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The downwelling over the nightside causes adiabatic heating of the air, which forms a warm layer in the nightside mesosphere at the altitudes 90–120 km. [3] [2] The temperature of this layer—230 K (−43 °C)—is far higher than the typical temperature found in the nightside thermosphere—100 K (−173 °C). [2]
The surface of Venus is comparatively flat. When 93% of the topography was mapped by Pioneer Venus Orbiter, scientists found that the total distance from the lowest point to the highest point on the entire surface was about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), about the same as the vertical distance between the Earth's ocean floor and the higher summits of the Himalayas.
The surface of Venus contains almost 1000 impact craters. However, unlike some planets in our system, Venus' thick atmosphere creates a strong shield that decelerates, flattens, and can fracture incoming projectiles. The Venusian surface is devoid of small craters (≤30–50 km in size) because of the effect the atmosphere has on small bodies.
The Venus Emissivity Mapper (VEM) is a spectrometer for mapping the surface composition of Venus through a distinct number of atmospheric spectral windows. It will be one of the two payloads onboard the VERITAS mission, and will also be the VenSpec-M channel of the EnVision mission's spectrometer suite.
The very first visible-light images of Venus' surface from space have been captured by NASA's Parker Solar Probe, and it could help researchers piece together the mysteries of the distant planet.
[90] [91] This makes the Venusian surface hotter than Mercury's, which has a minimum surface temperature of 53 K (−220 °C; −364 °F) and maximum surface temperature of 700 K (427 °C; 801 °F), [92] [93] even though Venus is nearly twice Mercury's distance from the Sun and thus receives only 25% of Mercury's solar irradiance, of 2,600 W/m ...
During the mapping cycle 1 (left-looking) radar surface mapping on Venus (September 15, 1990 to May 15, 1991), around 70% of the Venusian surface was mapped by synthetic aperture radar. In cycle 2 (right-looking), 54.5% of the surface was mapped, mainly the south pole regions and gaps from cycle 1 during May 15, 1991 to January 14, 1992.
Akatsuki (あかつき, 暁, "Dawn"), also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, was a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) space probe tasked with studying the atmosphere of Venus. It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on 20 May 2010, [7] but failed to enter orbit around