Venusian cloud structures: day-side and night-side

The early infrared image making use of the windows, show complex cloud structures, all revealed by the thermal radiation coming up from different atmospheric depths. In this colour scheme, the brighter the colour (that is, the more radiation comes up from the lower layers), the less cloudy is the observed area.
During capture orbit, preliminary data about the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere were also retrieved. Venus’ atmosphere is mainly composed of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). The incoming solar radiation dissociates this molecule into Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Oxygen (O2) in the upper atmospheric layers. In fact, Venus Express has already spotted the presence of an Oxygen airglow high in the atmosphere. However, Venus Express has revealed the presence of Carbon Monoxide as low as the cloud-layer top.

Scientists will continue the data analysis and retrieval to understand the phenomenon, which is very important to clarify the complex chemical processes and cycles at work in the atmosphere of Venus under the influence of solar radiation.