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The surface of Venus is dominated by geologic features that include volcanoes, large impact craters, and aeolian erosion and sedimentation landforms. Venus has a topography reflecting its single, strong crustal plate, with a unimodal elevation distribution (over 90% of the surface lies within an elevation of -1.0 and 2.5 km) [1] that preserves geologic structures for long periods of time.
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.
It is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" due to their similar size, gravity, and bulk composition (Venus is both the closest planet to Earth and the planet closest in size to Earth). The surface of Venus is covered by a dense atmosphere and presents clear evidence of former violent volcanic activity.
The probe travels through the sun's atmosphere and is closer to the surface of the sun than any spacecraft before it, according to NASA. The probe utilizes the gravity of Venus to gradually orbit ...
To an observer on the surface of Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east, [155] although Venus's opaque clouds prevent observing the Sun from the planet's surface. [156] Venus may have formed from the solar nebula with a different rotation period and obliquity, reaching its current state because of chaotic spin changes caused ...
A NASA spacecraft has captured never-before-seen images of Venus, providing stunning views of the hellishly hot surface of the second rock from the sun. Dark side of Venus revealed in new NASA ...
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Locating volcanoes on Venus became possible during the Magellan mission in 1990, which mapped over 95% of the surface of Venus. [32] The surface of Venus is hidden by clouds but surface features can be mapped using synthetic aperture radar. [33] Some images created by this mapping can give a perspective view of the elevation of the surface of ...