PIA00008: Hemispheric View of Venus Centered at the South Pole
 Target Name:  Venus
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Magellan
 Spacecraft:  Magellan
 Instrument:  Imaging Radar
 Product Size:  4064 x 4064 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  U.S. Geological Survey
 Producer ID:  P45394
 Addition Date:  1996-06-03
 Primary Data Set:  Magellan MIDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00008.tif (37.66 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00008.jpg (3.971 MB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

The hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, is centered on the South Pole. The Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98% of Venus at a resolution of about 100 meters; the effective resolution of this image is about 3 km. A mosaic of the Magellan images (most with illumination from the west) forms the image base. Gaps in the Magellan coverage were filled with images from the Earth-based Arecibo radar in a region centered roughly on 0 degree latitude and longitude, and with a neutral tone elsewhere (primarily near the south pole). The composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Gaps in the elevation data from the Magellan radar altimeter were filled with altimetry from the Venera spacecraft and the U.S. Pioneer Venus missions. An orthographic projection was used, simulating a distant view of one hemisphere of the planet. The Magellan mission was managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA. Data processed by JPL, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/USGS

Image Addition Date:
1996-06-03