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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.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is a terrestrial planet and is the closest in mass and size to its orbital neighbour Earth. Venus has by far the densest atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, composed mostly of carbon dioxide with a thick, global sulfuric acid cloud cover.
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.
A discovery of the second large "double-eyed" vortex at the south pole of Venus was made in the summer of 2006 by Venus Express, which came with no surprise. [40] Images from the Akatsuki orbiter revealed something similar to jet stream winds in the low and middle cloud region, which extends from 45 to 60 km in altitude. The wind speed ...
SAR images provide the highest resolution data set. Microwave radiation is used to penetrate the thick atmosphere and map the surface of Venus. The SAR images are black and white images, which show the surface features using the intensity of radar return (echo), either due to surface roughness or orientation. [7]
Overall, Venus has several times as many volcanoes as Earth, and it possesses some 167 giant volcanoes that are over 100 kilometres (62 mi) across. The only volcanic complex of this size on Earth is the Big Island of Hawaii. However, this is not because Venus is more volcanically active than Earth, but because its crust is older.
524522 Zoozve (/ ˈ z uː z v eɪ / ⓘ; provisional designation 2002 VE 68) is a sub-kilometer sized asteroid and temporary quasi-satellite of Venus. [5] Discovered in 2002, it was the first such object to be discovered around a major planet in the Solar System.