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Image: NASA's Psyche mission images the crescent of Mars

Phys · · 173 words · By NASA

The article describes an image of Mars captured by NASA's Psyche mission on May 15, 2026, during a gravity assist maneuver. It explains the technical details of the image, including the phase angle and the effect of the planet's dusty atmosphere on the appearance of the crescent.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-image-nasa-psyche-mission-images.html

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0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

6 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 3
info Single Source 2
cancel Disputed 1
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“This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA's Psyche mission”
DISPUTED
There is a direct contradiction regarding the date of the crescent image. One source explicitly states the image was captured on May 15, 2026, at 5:03 a.m. PDT. However, two other independent sources state the crescent image was captured on May 3, 2026 (one mentioning it was from 5 million km away and another from 4.8 million km away).
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web search NEUTRAL — NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/psyche-mission/nasas-psyche-mi…
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web search NEUTRAL — Nasa’s Psyche spacecraft captured a stunning crescent image of Mars from nearly 5 million kilometres away on May 3, 2026. The spacecraft is using Mars’s gravity as a slingshot before heading to a meta…
https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/nasa-psyche-spacecra…
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web search NEUTRAL — This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA’s Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist.
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-psyche-mission-i…
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“as it approached the planet for a gravity assist”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources confirm that the Psyche spacecraft performed a gravity assist/flyby of Mars on May 15, 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — NASA Psyche mission set for mars gravity assist on May 15 in journey to metal rich asteroid. 4 days ago. Save for later.NASA's Psyche spacecraft to capture never-seen-before images of Mars during grav…
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…
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web search NEUTRAL — NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/psyche-mission/nasas-psyche-mi…
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web search NEUTRAL — 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.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mars-reshape-nasa-psyche-journ…
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“Captured by the spacecraft's multispectral imager instrument”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the use of the multispectral imager for Mars observations, including specific mentions of it capturing images of Mars during the mission.
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web search NEUTRAL — Captured by the multispectral imager instrument on NASA’s Psyche mission, this is an enhanced-color view of the large double-ring crater Huygens (upper right
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-psyche-mission-i…
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web search NEUTRAL — Nasa’s Psyche spacecraft captured a stunning crescent image of Mars from nearly 5 million kilometres away on May 3, 2026. The spacecraft is using Mars’s gravity as a slingshot before heading to a meta…
https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/nasa-psyche-spacecra…
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web search NEUTRAL — Psyche's operations team plans to use the spacecraft's multispectral imager to capture thousands of observations of Mars.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mars-reshape-nasa-psyche-journ…
info
“the crescent appeared brighter and extended farther around the planet's disk than anticipated because of the strong scattering of sunlight through the planet's dusty atmosphere”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the evidence confirms the crescent appearance and the existence of a dusty atmosphere, the specific claim that the crescent appeared 'brighter and extended farther... than anticipated' due to scattering is not corroborated by the other provided sources; only one source describes the phase angle and the crescent appearance.
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web search NEUTRAL — The atmosphere of Mars is the layer of gases surrounding Mars. It is primarily composed of carbon dioxide, molecular nitrogen, and argon. It also contains trace levels of water vapor, oxygen, carbon m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars
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web search NEUTRAL — NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/psyche-mission/nasas-psyche-mi…
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web search NEUTRAL — Because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, the planet appeared as a thin crescent in the days running up to the close approach, lit by sunlight reflecting off its surface.
https://overlookhorizon.com/nasas-psyche-mission-images-the-…
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“The image was acquired with Imager A”
SINGLE SOURCE
Only one specific source mentions that the image was acquired with 'Imager A'. Other sources mention the multispectral imager generally, but do not specify the sub-instrument 'Imager A'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Curiosity is a Mars rover that is exploring Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Launched in 2011 and landed the following year, the car-sized r…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_(rover)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) is a wide-angle, relatively low-resolution camera built for Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. MARCI views the surface of Mars in five visible and two …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Color_Imager
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is one of seventeen cameras on the Curiosity rover on the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Hand_Lens_Imager
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“It has been processed into a natural-color view (approximating what the human eye would see) using red, green, and blue data from imager filters”
CORROBORATED
The claim is corroborated by a cross-reference (Phys) and a web search result specifically describing the processing of the Psyche Mars image into a natural-color view using RGB data.
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web search NEUTRAL — Colorize Images Online. Using AI image coloring and deep learning, our colorize image feature adds natural, realistic colors to your old black and white photos. With an intuitive, easy-to-use interfac…
https://www.img2go.com/colorize-image
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web search NEUTRAL — Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titan_in_true_color.jpg
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web search NEUTRAL — Free Color Picker: Extract colors from any image instantly. Upload, paste, or enter a URL to get HEX, RGB, HSL and more — no signup needed.
https://imagecolorpicker.com/
+ 1 more evidence source
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.