Radar Map of Venus

This map of the surface of Venus was created from observations accumulated during more than a decade of radar imaging of the planet. Observations made by NASA's Magellan spacecraft between 1990 and 1994 form the base of the image, with gaps in the data filled in by the Arecibo Observatory, which is based in Puerto Rico. The image is color-coded to show elevation, using information gathered by the Magellan radar altimeter, with additional data provided by the Soviet Venera spacecraft and NASA’s Pioneer Venus missions.

Radar images of Venus have revealed geological structures on the planet, such as steep-sided domes and rugged highland terrain, which geologists think could feature mineral-rich materials, such as felsic rocks.

The discovery of felsic rocks on Venus would add support to the idea that the planet was once more Earth-like, as most of these materials on Earth formed in a water environment. However, other processes that don’t require the presence of water may also produce felsic rocks.

Map credit: NASA/JPL/USGS

Note: This particular view of Venus is centered on 270° East. For more information about this story, see Venus Express Unearths New Clues to the Planet's Geological History

The Small Magellanic Cloud

This image captured by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) highlights the Small Magellanic Cloud. Also known as NGC 292, the Small Magellanic Cloud is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years away.

The Small Magellanic Cloud is named after the Portuguese explorer Fernando de Magellan who observed it on his voyage around the world in 1519. Since it is visible to the naked eye in dark-sky conditions, it is likely that people in the southern hemisphere observed the galaxy long before Magellan recorded it.

Located in the constellation Tucana, the Small Magellanic Cloud looks like a wispy cloud that circles the south celestial pole. Nearby, but not visible in this image, is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a sister galaxy to the Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers originally thought that both galaxies were orbiting our Milky Way galaxy. But recent research suggests that they might be moving too fast to be bound by the Milky Way's gravity and are passing by for the first time.

This WISE image illustrates why the SMC is considered an irregular galaxy. Galaxies are classified according to their shape, such as spiral or elliptical. Irregular galaxies don't fit into any of these categories -- they are unique in shape.

The two streaks seen in the upper half of the image are satellites orbiting Earth, which happened to pass in front of the Small Magellanic Cloud when WISE captured this view.

This mosaic image was made from all four infrared detectors aboard WISE. The color in this image represents different wavelengths of infrared light. Blue and cyan represent light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns mostly emitted from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

Lava Flows on Venus' Idunn Mons

This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons (at 46 degrees south latitude, 214.5 degrees east longitude) in the Imdr Regio area of Venus. The topographic backbone derives from data obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft, with a vertical exaggeration of 30 times. Radar data (in brown) from Magellan has been draped on top of the topographic data. Bright areas are rough or have steep slopes. Dark areas are smooth.

The colored overlay [above] shows the heat patterns derived from surface brightness data collected by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), aboard the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft. Temperature variations due to topography were removed. The brightness signals the composition of the minerals that were changed due to lava flow. Red-orange is the warmest area and purple is the coolest. The warmest area is centered on the summit, which stands about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) above the plains, and the bright flows that originate there. Idunn Mons has a diameter of about 200 kilometers (120 miles).

The spectrometer data was collected from May 2006 to the end of 2007. A movie featuring 360-degree views of the volcano is based on the same data and can be viewed at JPL's Multimedia.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA

Note: For more information, see New Evidence for Recent Volcanism on Venus, at the ESA/Venus Express website.