Earth sure looks spooky in these 'hyperspectral' images from Europe's Hera asteroid probe

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These strange shots of Earth are a Halloween treat.

several rows of earth in false color
Earth shines in eerie colors in several spectral (light wavelength) observations by Hera, a European Space Agency spacecraft that launched recently to study a binary asteroid system. (Image credit: European Space Agency)

A strange Earth shines in new imagery captured by a European asteroid mission.

The Hera spacecraft, which launched this month to study a binary asteroid system up close. turned its gaze back at our planet to capture spooky views of Earth in multiple wavelengths of light. The imagery was captured fro roughly 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) away, using Hera's HyperScout H hyperspectral imager.

Besides being beautiful space art, the imagery "allows us to observe cloud patterns on our planet", instrument team member Marcel Popescu of Romania's University of Craiova said in a European Space Agency (ESA) statement released today (Oct. 31). Popescu paraphrased planetary scientist and space popularizer Carl Sagan (1934-1996): "All our lives are contained within these few pixels.”

The Hera mission, led by ESA, launched Oct. 7 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida.

Related: SpaceX rocket launches Europe's Hera planetary defense probe to visit asteroid smacked by NASA

Hera's mission calls for the spacecraft to arrive at an asteroid pair in 2026 to follow up on NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Mission, or DART for short. The smaller asteroid moonlet, called Dimorphos, was directly impacted by DART. The orbit of Dimorphos around its larger companion, Didymos, was permanently altered by the collision.

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DART demonstrated a planetary defense strategy that could be useful in moving threatening asteroids away from Earth. Hera's job is to look at the collision's aftermath from up close, given that DART's impact has only been examined by telescopes to date. HyperScout H, the Hera instrument that just observed Earth, will examine the mineral composition of Dimorphos when it arrives.

"This first calibration test was an exciting experience, which showed that both the instrument and its data processing chain are working well," said instrument principal investigator Julia de León, of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, in the same statement.

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Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. 

1 Comment Comment from the forums
  • rod
    Always interesting to see Earth images from a distance :) "The imagery was captured fro roughly 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) away, using Hera's HyperScout H hyperspectral imager."

    I looked at updated stats for this exoplanet site, https://exoplanet.eu/home/, 7344 confirmed now. Finding Earth 2.0 out there is more much more difficult, and so far remains unconfirmed, including ET phoning home :)

    5242 of these exoplanets have orbital periods 370 days or less so close to Earth type orbit periods or much shorter periods. Most are big and orbit closer, average mass about 4.32 Jupiter masses. Looking at exoplanets with > 370 day periods, 821 I could find. Big exos out there, average about 13 Jupiter masses. It is good we can see our Earth from so far away and confirm there could be life on it too :)
    Reply