NASA Spacecraft Captures Rare Crescent Mars Ahead Of Friday’s Flyby

BreakingInnovationScienceNASA Spacecraft Captures Rare Crescent Mars Ahead Of Friday’s FlybyByJamie Carter,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky.Follow AuthorMay 15, 2026, 01:00am EDTToplineNASA’s Psyche Mission has captured a striking new view of Mars as the spacecraft approaches the planet for a critical gravity-assist maneuver on May 15. The newly released image shows Mars as a rare thin crescent, similar to a crescent moon seen from Earth. It gave scientists an opportunity to calibrate instruments ahead of the mission’s eventual arrival at metal asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029. This colorized image of Mars was captured by NASA’s Psyche mission on May 3, 2026, about 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometers) from the planet.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUKey FactsMars looks like a crescent because Psyche is approaching Mars from the planet’s night side, from where only a narrow sliver of sunlight illuminates the Red Planet.The images were taken on May 3 from approximately 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometers) away using the spacecraft’s multispectral imager, which captures visible light, as well as near-infrared, ultraviolet and thermal wavelengths.The gap in the crescent on the right-hand side is the planet’s icy north polar cap. Scientists believe seasonal winter clouds and hazes in the region may be limiting how atmospheric dust scatters sunlight there.Launched on Oct. 13, 2023, the NASA spacecraft is due to arrive at Psyche in mid-2029.This image of Mars was captured by NASA’s Psyche mission on May 3, 2026, about 3 million miles from the planet as the spacecraft approaches for a gravity assist on May 15. Sunlight is reflected and scattered by dust in the Martian atmosphere, creating an extended crescent around the planet.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU if (!window.cnxel) { window.cnxel = {}; window.cnxel.cmd = []; var iframe = document.createElement('iframe'); iframe...