Browse All : Magellan of Venus

One Hundred-Kilometer Terrai …

Title	One Hundred-Kilometer Terrain on Venus
Explanation	Even the hot and cracked surface of Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] has rolling hills. Although never actually photographed from up-close, images of the Venusian surface [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/venus/surface.html ] like that shown above have been constructed in recent years by digitally merging distant photographs from height-sensitive radar [ http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]. Isolated above [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00150 ] is a 100-kilometer wide swath inside a volcanic region [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000326.html ] known as Yavine Corona. Visible in the frame [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00150 ] are numerous fractures [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980120.html ] in the surface. Data is missing from the dark lane on the upper right. The surface of Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/v13_vg261_262.html ] is so hot and oppressive that robot spacecraft [ http://pds-geophys.wustl.edu/venera/ ] landed there [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990124.html ] have lasted for only a few hours.

A Radar Image of Venus

Title	A Radar Image of Venus
Explanation	The largest radio telescopes in the world are working together to create a new map of the surface of Venus. The surface of Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] is unusually hidden by a thick atmosphere [ http://bigmac.civil.mtu.edu/public_html/classes/ce459/projects/t15/r15.html ] of mostly carbon dioxide [ http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/CO2/CO2.html ] gas. These thick clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960923.html ] are transparent, however, to radar signals [ http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm_makemap3.htm ] sent and received from Earth. The two radio telescopes [ http://www.setileague.org/otherweb/othrtele.htm ] generating the most powerful radar ever are the Arecibo Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981129.html ] in Puerto Rico [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rq.html ] and the new Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope [ http://www.gb.nrao.edu/GBT/GBT.html ] in West Virginia [ http://www.state.wv.us/ ]. The new survey will resolve details as fine a one-kilometer across, and will be inspected for changes since the last major radar map [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991128.html ] was made by NASA's Magellan spacecraft [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/ ] that orbited Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] from 1990 to 1994. Pictured above [ http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/pr/gbtfirstsci.html ] is part of a preliminary image showing details as small as five-kilometers across.

Venus' Once Molten Surface

Title	Venus' Once Molten Surface
Explanation	If you could look at Venus with radar eyes - this is what you might see. This computer reconstruction of the surface of Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] was created from data from the Magellan spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ]. Magellan orbited Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] and used radar to map our neighboring planet [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/venus.htm ]'s surface between 1990 and 1994. Magellan [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/guide.html ] found many interesting surface features, including the large circular domes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980120.html ], typically 25-kilometers across, that are depicted above [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/caption/mgn_alpha_regio.txt ]. Volcanism [ http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/ ] is thought to have created the domes [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1995GeoRL..22.2781B ], although the precise mechanism remains unknown. Venus [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/venus.htm ]' surface is so hot and hostile that no surface probe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990124.html ] has lasted more than a few minutes.

Venus: Earth's Sister Planet

Title	Venus: Earth's Sister Planet
Explanation	This picture in visible light was taken by the Galileo [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/galileo.html ] spacecraft. Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] is very similar to Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950622.html ] in size and mass - and so is sometimes referred to as Earth's sister planet - but Venus has a quite different climate. Venus' [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/venus.html ] thick clouds and closeness to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ] (only Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950814.html ] is closer) make it the hottest planet - much hotter than the Earth. Humans could not survive there, and no life of any sort has ever been found. When Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Venus.html ] is visible it is usually the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. More than 20 spacecraft have visited Venus including Venera 9, which landed on the surface, and Magellan [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mveg/guide.html ], which used radar to peer through the clouds and make a map of the surface. There are still many things about Venus's unusual atmosphere that astronomers don't understand. Tomorrow's picture: Uranus: The Tilted Planet

A Radar Image of Planet Eart …

Title	A Radar Image of Planet Earth
Explanation	This image of Mt. Rainier, Washington USA, planet Earth [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_rainier.html ], was produced by the Spaceborne Radar Laboratory [ http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/desc/SIRCdesc.html ] which flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950807.html ] in 1994. Radar, short for RAdio Detection And Ranging, is a technique which coordinates the operation of a radio transmitter and receiver to measure the direction, strength, and timing of radio echos from the surface of distant objects. An actual image of an object can be constructed by recording and analyzing many echos. One advantage of using radar imaging in planetary studies is that images can be made regardless of cloud cover or lighting conditions. During the early 90s, NASA's Magellan spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ] was able to use radar imaging to produce similar high resolution maps of the surface of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ]. For more information about the picture click here [ http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/pio/volcanos/captions/srl2-rainier_cap.html ]. Tomorrow's picture: A World Explorer

A Venusian Tick

Title	A Venusian Tick
Explanation	Data from the Magellan spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ] has shown the Face of Venus [ http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~bud/craters/first.html ] to contain a host of volcanic features. This image shows an example of a fairly common type of venusian volcanic feature. [ http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~bud/craters/venus_volcanic.html ] Known as a "tick" it represents a volcano about 20 miles wide at the summit with ridges and valleys radiating down its sides lending it an insect like appearance. Scientists are particularly interested in exploring the geology of Venus [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/venus.html ]. Because of its similarity with the Earth in size, density, and overall location in the solar system, Venus may offer key insights into the workings of our own planet. Do the familiar processes of volcanism and plate tectonics occur on our sister planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950815.html ] as well as our own? The detailed radar mapping of the planet performed by the Magellan probe has gone a long way toward answering this question. Tomorrow's picture: A Radar Image of Planet Earth

Venus UnVeiled

Title	Venus UnVeiled
Explanation	The surface of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950815.html ] is perpetually covered by a veil of thick clouds and remains hidden from even the powerful telescopic eyes of earth-based astronomers. However, using an imaging radar [ http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] technique, the Magellan spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ] was able to lift the veil from the Face of Venus [ http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~bud/craters/first.html ] and produce spectacular high resolution images of the planet's surface. The bright area running across the middle of this picture represents the largest highland region of Venus known as Aphrodite [ http://info.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/olympian.html#Aphrodite ] Terra. The large highland regions are analogous to continents on Earth. Scientists are particularly interested in exploring the geology of Venus because of its similarity to Earth. For more information about Venus and this image see the Overview of Venus [ http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~bud/craters/venus_image.html ]. Tomorrow's picture: A Venusian Tick

Atete Corona on Venus

Title	Atete Corona on Venus
Explanation	What could cause a huge cylindrical mountain to rise from the surface of Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ]? Such features that occur on Venus [ http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/PDS/public/explorer/html/fmapeasy.htm ] are known as coronas [ http://emma.la.asu.edu/~hamilton/abstracts/coronae.html ]. Pictured above [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00096 ] in the foreground is 500-kilometer wide Atete Corona found in a region of Venus known as the Galindo [ http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/GEOMAP/MapStatus/VenusStatus/V40.html ]. The image was created by combining multiple radar maps [ http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm_makemap3.htm ] of the region to form a computer-generated three-dimensional perspective. The series of dark rectangles that crosses the image from top to bottom were created by the imaging procedure and are not real. The origin of massive coronas [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/venus/vencor.htm ] remains a mystery although speculation [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1999Icar..139..100S ] holds they result from some form of volcanism [ http://www.usgs.gov/education/learnweb/volcano/ ]. Studying Venusian coronas [ http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/geology/g3613.htm ] help scientists better understand the inner structure [ http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/venus/interior.html ] of both Venus and Earth [ http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate1.htm ].

Venus Unveiled

Title	Venus Unveiled
Explanation	The surface of Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ venus.html ] is perpetually covered by a veil of thick clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970507.html ] and remains hidden from even the powerful telescopic eyes of earth-bound astronomers. But in the early 1990s, using imaging radar, the Venus orbiting Magellan spacecraft [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/guide.html ] was able to lift the veil from the face [ http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/botticelli/ birth_of_venus_detail.jpg.html ] of Venus and produced spectacular high resolution images of the planet's surface [ http://earth.agu.org/revgeophys/bindsc01/ bindsc01.html ]. Colors used in this computer generated picture [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00104 ] of Magellan radar data are based on color images from the surface of Venus [ http://www.sciam.com/specialissues/0398cosmos/ 0398venus.html ] transmitted by the Soviet Venera [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ venera.html ] 13 and 14 landers. The bright area running roughly across the middle represents the largest highland region of Venus [ http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/PDS/public/explorer/html/ fmappick.htm ] known as Aphrodite Terra [ http://starryskies.com/solar_system/venus_html/ surface.htm ].

A World Explorer

Title	A World Explorer
Explanation	Ferdinand Magellan [ http://www.nortel.com/english/magellan/ferdinand/MagellanBio.html ] was a world explorer. Many consider him the greatest navigator of Europe's 16th century age of sea going exploration and credit his expedition with the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. NASA's Venus probe, the aptly named Magellan spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ] shown above in an artist's conception, provided a global view of the poorly known surface of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ] - just as Magellan's expedition provided the beginnings of a global perspective of the Earth. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 5 ships and 265 men left Spain in 1519 in search of a western route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. [ http://eduserv.rug.ac.be/~mbagus/ina.html ] In 1522 one ship and 17 men returned. NASA launched the Magellan probe on May 4, 1989. Placed in a polar orbit, Magellan's many circumnavigations resulted in a detailed radar mapping of 98% of the Venusian surface. [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/mgnlpsc.html ] As pictured, the radar mapper's antenna resembles a large inverted bowl. Power for the radar was produced by the wing like solar panels. In October of 1994, the Magellan probe entered the Venusian atmosphere and ground controllers lost contact [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mgn_rip.txt ] with the spacecraft. Tomorrow's picture: Two Tails of Comet West

A Venusian Landscape

Title	A Venusian Landscape
Explanation	This computer generated view of a Venusian volcano was created using data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950825.html ]. Magellan used its onboard radar to map the surface of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ] which is hidden from telescopic observations by a perpetual cloud cover. Using this radar data to provide three dimensional information, a computer was then able to produce this view of Maat Mons [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/caption/mgn_maat_mons.txt ], a 5 mile high volcano, from a dramatic perspective. The colors used to render the surface are based on earlier color images transmitted by TV cameras on the Soviet Venera 13 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950927.html ] and 14 Venus landers.

A View from Venus: Rift Vall …

Title	A View from Venus: Rift Valley
Explanation	Color information from the Soviet Venera landers [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950927.html ] and radar data from the Magellan spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950825.html ] were used to construct this striking perspective view of the Venusian landscape [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950928.html ]. (In this computer generated image, the vertical scale has been exagerated.) In the foreground is the edge of a rift valley created by faulting in the crust of Venus [ http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/venus.htm ]. The valley runs all the way to the base of Gula Mons, a 2 mile high volcano seen here on the right, some 450 miles in the distance. On the left is another volcano, Sif Mons. Using radar to pierce the dense clouds continuously shrouding the Face of Venus [ http://stoner.eps.mcgill.ca/bud/first.html ], Magellan was able to explore [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/guide.html ] over 98% of the Venusian surface, revealing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ] a a diverse and tantalizing topography.

The North Pole of Venus

Title	The North Pole of Venus
Explanation	If you could look down on the North Pole [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020818.html ] of Venus what would you see? The Magellan probe [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/fact.html ] that orbited Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] from 1990 to 1994 was able to peer through the thick Venusian clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960923.html ] and build up the above image [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/image3.html ] by emitting and re-detecting cloud-penetrating radar [ http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm_makemap3.htm ]. Visible as the bright patch below central North is Venus' highest mountain Maxwell Montes [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/mgn_c260n033_2.html ]. Other notable features include numerous mountains, coronas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020312.html ], impact craters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990711.html ], tessera [ http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/venus/interior/V_tessera.html&fr=t&edu=mid ], ridges, and lava flows. Although the size and mass of Venus [ http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Bima/venus.html ] are similar to the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ], its thick carbon-dioxide [ http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/CO2/CO2.html ] atmosphere has trapped heat [ http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/greenhouse.html ] so efficiently that surface temperature usually exceeds 700 kelvins [ http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blthermometer.htm ], hot enough to melt lead [ http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/82.html ].

Venus On The Horizon

Title	Venus On The Horizon
Explanation	The month of October [ http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/oct97sky.html ] features a sky full of planets, including Venus as the brilliant evening star. Besides the sun and moon, Venus is the brightest object [ http://www.seds.org/billa/nineplanets/venus.html ] visible in Earth's sky. This month, Venus appears in early evening near the red planet Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970528.html ] and Mars' red giant rival Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970922.html ] above the southwestern horizon. Because it is closer to the sun than Earth, Venus never strays far from the sun in its apparent position [ http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/courses/ast309/misc/DresdenCodex.html ] and is seen during the year as either a bright morning or evening star [ http://rowlf.cc.wwu.edu:8080/~skywise/legends.html#Evening Star ]. This beautiful sunset imaged from low earth orbit by the Atlantis space shuttle [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/atlantis.html ] crew in May 1989 also reveals the planet Venus blazing above Earth's horizon. It is a fitting image [ http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/images/pao/STS30/10063311.htm ] for this mission and crew [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-30/sts-30-press-kit.txt ]. It was recorded following the successful release of the robot Venus-explorer Magellan [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ], the first planetary probe to be deployed from a space shuttle.

Lava Flows on Venus

Title	Lava Flows on Venus
Explanation	The hot surface of Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] shows clear signs of ancient lava flows [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030416.html ]. Evidence of this was bolstered by the robot spacecraft Magellan [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ], which orbited Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] in the early 1990s. Using imaging radar, Magellan [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040323.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/ ] was able to peer beneath the thick perpetual clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960923.html ] that cover Earth's closest planetary neighbor. Picture above [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00486 ], lava apparently flowed down from the top of the image and pooled in the light colored areas visible across the image middle and bottom. The lava cut a channel across the darker ridge that runs horizontally across the image center. The picture covers about 500 kilometers across. The lava originates from a caldera [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/frequent_questions/grp13/question1006.html ] named Ammavaru [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammavaru ] that lies about 300 kilometers off the image top [ http://www.solarviews.com/cap/venus/ammavaru.htm ]. The hot dense climate makes Venus a more difficult planet on which to land [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031130.html ] spacecraft and rovers [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html ]. Venus currently sparkles [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/article_110_1.asp ] as the brightest object in the western sky after sunset.

Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin Credit: Galileo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Spacecraft, JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ];

Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin C …

Title	Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin Credit: Galileo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Spacecraft, JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ];
Explanation	This picture by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/galileo.html ] shows just how cloudy Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] is. Venus [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34067 ] is very similar to Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ] in size and mass - and so is sometimes referred to as Earth's sister planet - but Venus [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/venus.htm ] has a quite different climate. Venus [ http://spacelink.nasa.gov/NASA.Projects/Space.Science/Solar.System/Pioneer.Venus/Venus.Discoveries ]' thick clouds and closeness to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980830.html ] (only Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html ] is closer) make it the hottest planet - much hotter than the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/earth.html ]. Humans could not survive there, and no life of any sort has ever been found. When Venus is visible [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/venus_guide_031024.html ] it is usually the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/moon.html ]. More than 20 spacecraft have visited Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Venus.html ] including Venera 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1975-050D ], which landed on the surface, and Magellan [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/ ], which used radar to peer through the clouds and make a map of the surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030427.html ]. This visible light picture of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] was taken by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951206.html ] that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Many things about Venus remain unknown, including the cause of mysterious bursts of radio waves [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1995JATP...57..557S ].

Arachnoids on Venus

Title	Arachnoids on Venus
Explanation	Arachnoids are large structures of unknown origin that have been found only on the surface of Venus [ http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/venus.htm ]. Arachnoids [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/planet_volcano/venus/complex_features2.html ] get their name from their resemblance to spider [ http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/spidhome.htm ]-webs. They appear as concentric ovals surrounded by a complex network of fractures, and can span 200 kilometers. Radar [ http://everest.hunter.cuny.edu/terrain/radar1.html ] echoes from the Magellan [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/fact.html ] spacecraft that orbited Venus [ http://www.seds.org/billa/nineplanets/venus.html ] from 1990 to 1994 built up this image. Over 30 arachnoids have been identified on Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960923.html ], so far. The Arachnoid might be a strange relative to the volcano [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/ ], but possibly different arachnoids [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996LPI%2E%2E%2E%2E27%2E%2E483H&db_key=AST&nosetcookie=1 ] are formed by different processes.

Venus' Once Molten Surface

Title	Venus' Once Molten Surface
Explanation	If you could look at Venus with radar [ http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm_makemap3.htm ] eyes - this is what you might see. This computer reconstruction of the surface of Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] was created from data from the Magellan [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ] spacecraft. Magellan [ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html ] orbited Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] and used radar [ http://www.naic.edu/~isradar/is/aboutis/radar.html ] to map our neighboring planet [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/venus.htm ]'s surface between 1990 and 1994. Magellan [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/guide.html ] found many interesting surface features, including the large circular domes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980120.html ], typically 25-kilometers across, that are depicted above [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/caption/mgn_alpha_regio.txt ]. Volcanism [ http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/ ] is thought to have created the domes [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1995GeoRL..22.2781B ], although the precise mechanism remains unknown. Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040623.html ]' surface is so hot and hostile that no surface probe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990124.html ] has lasted more than a few minutes.

Venus Unveiled

Title	Venus Unveiled
Explanation	The surface of Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ venus.html ] is perpetually covered by a veil of thick clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970507.html ] and remains hidden from even the powerful telescopic eyes of earth-bound astronomers. But in the early 1990s, using imaging radar, the Venus orbiting Magellan spacecraft [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/guide.html ] was able to lift the veil from the face [ http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/botticelli/ birth_of_venus_detail.jpg.html ] of Venus and produced spectacular high resolution images of the planet's surface [ http://earth.agu.org/revgeophys/bindsc01/ bindsc01.html ]. Colors used in this computer generated picture [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00104 ] of Magellan radar data are based on color images from the surface of Venus transmitted by the Soviet Venera [ http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm ] 13 and 14 landers. The bright area running roughly across the middle represents the largest highland region of Venus [ http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/PDS/public/explorer/html/ fmappick.htm ] known as Aphrodite Terra [ http://starryskies.com/solar_system/venus_html/ surface.htm ].

Beneath Venus' Clouds

Title	Beneath Venus' Clouds
Explanation	If the thick clouds covering Venus were removed, how would the surface appear? Using an imaging radar [ http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] technique, the Magellan spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ] was able to lift the veil from the Face of Venus [ http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~bud/craters/FaceOfVenus.html ] and produce this spectacular high resolution image of the planet's surface. Red, in this false-color map, represents mountains, while blue represents valleys. This 3-kilometer resolution map is a composite of Magellan images compiled between 1990 and 1994. Gaps were filled in by the Earth-based Arecibo Radio Telescope. The large yellow/red area in the north is Ishtar Terra featuring Maxwell Montes, the largest mountain on Venus. The large highland regions are analogous to continents on Earth. Scientists are particularly interested in exploring the geology of Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] because of its similarity to Earth.

Narrow Search

Remove

What

Where

When

Browse All : Magellan of Venus