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Venusian Turbulence: the Near-Equatorial Region
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This image of the Near-Equatorial Region of Venus was acquired on 24 September 2006 by the Ultraviolet, Visible and Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board ESA’s Venus Express, from a distance of about 37.000 Km from the Planet’s surface.
The image, taken on the night-side of Venus at a wavelength of 1,7 micron, provides a close-up view of a highly turbulent region, with irregular and warped clouds, which is common at these low latitudes. This is different from what happens at higher latitudes (pole-ward) where clouds are generally streaky and more regularly shaped.
The gray ‘bubble’ slightly below the centre of the image is located at about 27° Southern Latitude and 7° Western Longitude, and has a diameter of about 300 Km.
The Alpha Regio area is at the bottom left of the image. This area is characterised by a series of troughs, ridges, and faults that are oriented in many directions, with surface features that can be up to 4 Km high. It is not yet clear if atmospheric turbulences may be induced by the rough topography below the clouds.
The grey-scale of the image is such that black means more transparency, therefore less clouds, while white means more opacity, therefore more cloud concentration.
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(Dettagli)
