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This spooky-tinged multiplicity of planet Earths comes especially for Halloween, as observed through the various spectral bands of the Hera asteroid mission\u2019s HyperScout H instrument out in deep space.<\/p>\n
Hera\u2019s HyperScout H is a hyperspectral imager that observes its targets in more colours than the human eye can distinguish, across 25 spectral bands from the visible to near infrared 650\u2013950 nm wavelength spectral range. These close-up images of Earth were produced by separating these wavelengths to show how the instrument operates in practice, as observed on 11 October 11 between 01:59 to 18:09 UTC.<\/p>\n
The false colour images are visualised using the TwilightShifted palette: a colour map ranging across bluish black through purplish white into reddish black to represent light intensity levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis allows us to observe cloud patterns on our planet from a distance of nearly 2 000 000 km away and to test the sharpness of our data processing algorithms,\u201d\u00a0says instrument team member Marcel Popescu of the University of Craiova in Romania. \u201cTo quote Carl Sagan, all our lives are contained within these few pixels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a successful launch on 7 October 2024, Hera\u2019s instruments were switched on for the first time as part of the spacecraft\u2019s ongoing Near-Earth Commissioning Phase.<\/p>\n
On Thursday 10 October and Friday 11 October, Hera\u2019s topside Asteroid Deck, which houses the spacecraft\u2019s instruments, was pointed back towards our planet so that its instruments could capture their first images of Earth and the Moon from a distance of more than one million km away.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce Hera reaches the Dimorphos asteroid HyperScout H will prospect its mineral make-up,\u201d explains instrument principal investigator Julia de Le\u00f3n of Instituto de Astrof\u00edsica de Canarias. \u201cThis first calibration test was an exciting experience, which showed that both the instrument and its data processing chain are working well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shoebox-sized HyperScout H is the latest in a family of HyperScout imagers\u00a0previously flown in terrestrial orbit for Earth observation, produced by cosine Remote Sensing\u00a0in the Netherlands with ESA support.<\/p>\n
Next March HyperScout H will also be among the Hera instruments trained on Mars and martian moon Deimos as the mission performs a swingby of the red planet.<\/p>\n
Marco Esposito, cosine Remote Sensing\u2019s Managing Director, comments: \u201cIt is fantastic to have the Earth-Moon system as our first target, observing this unique relationship and capturing it spectrally as we move swiftly toward Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hera\u00a0is ESA\u2019s first planetary defence mission, on its way to visit the first asteroid to have had its orbit altered by human action. By gathering close-up data about the Dimorphos asteroid, which was impacted by NASA\u2019s DART spacecraft in 2022, Hera will help turn asteroid deflection into a well understood and potentially repeatable technique.<\/p>\n
prepared by the HyperScout-H team: Julia de Le\u00f3n, George Prodan, Bj\u00f6rn Grieger, G\u00e1bor Kov\u00e1cs, Marcel Popescu.<\/i><\/p>\n
The Hera mission wishes you a Happy Heraween!<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n