Optical Camera
An imaging instrument that records visible (and often near-infrared or ultraviolet) light — the eyes of a spacecraft, from wide-angle context cameras to high-resolution narrow-angle telescopes.
Instruments of this class
- Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)Instrument
Cassini's wide- and narrow-angle cameras, which imaged Saturn, its rings, and its moons in unprecedented detail over thirteen years.
- Dawn Framing CameraInstrument
Dawn's camera, which mapped the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, including the bright carbonate deposits of Ceres's Occator crater.
- JunoCamInstrument
Juno's wide-angle visible-light camera, included partly for public engagement, which has returned spectacular images of Jupiter's turbulent poles and cloud bands.
- LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager)Instrument
New Horizons's high-resolution narrow-angle telescope camera, which returned the first detailed images of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth.
- OCAMS (OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite)Instrument
OSIRIS-REx's camera suite, which mapped the asteroid Bennu in detail and documented the touch-and-go sample collection.
- Voyager Imaging Science SubsystemInstrument
The Voyager cameras, which returned the first close-up images of the outer planets and their moons, and the 'Pale Blue Dot' portrait of Earth.
Knowledge connections
- Group includesLORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager)
- Group includesJunoCam
- Group includesCassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)
- Group includesVoyager Imaging Science Subsystem
- Group includesOCAMS (OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite)
- Group includesDawn Framing Camera
- Group includesMastcam-Z
- Group includesNIRCam
- Group includesWide Field Camera 3
- Group includesAdvanced Camera for Surveys
- Group includesSPHERE
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
- ESAEuropean Space Agency
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.