Die Erde schwimmt in einem Sternenmeer inmitten der Milchstraße, beobachtet von der Parker Solar Probe der NASA

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe captured this grand prospect of Earth swimming in a sea of stars over the course of ten days in April 2019. Earth is the first bright round spot that shows up before the Milky Way is seen. The Moon was too close to Earth to be resolved. The background star near Earth is Spica. Mercury is seen in transit across the Milky Way core. Venus is the very bright spot at the end. Jupiter is also seen just before Mercury appears while Saturn is in the background. The stripes are cosmic rays hitting the camera sensor. By the time Parker Solar Probe imaged Venus it was traveling at 95km/s (~213,000mph).

https://wispr.nrl.navy.mil/encounter2-summary

*I processed and animated 458 WISPR L3 source data files to provide the highest resolution video of Parker Solar Probe’s encounter possible. The music is 2M1 by Brian Eno.*

Wow. Just, wow. Thank you.