PIA00240: Venus - Lakshmi Planum
 Target Name:  Venus
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Magellan
 Spacecraft:  Magellan
 Instrument:  Imaging Radar
 Product Size:  3633 x 3633 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Producer ID:  P37139
 Addition Date:  1996-03-07
 Primary Data Set:  Magellan MIDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00240.tif (9.378 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00240.jpg (3.592 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image is a full-resolution mosaic of several Magellan images and is centered at 61 degrees north latitude and 341 degrees east longitude. The image is 250 kilometers wide (150 miles). The radar smooth region in the northern part of the image is Lakshmi Planum, a high plateau region roughly 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) above the mean planetary radius. Lakshmi Planum is ringed by intensely deformed terrain, some of which is shown in the southern portion of the image and is called Clotho Tessera. The 64-kilometer (40 mile) diameter circular feature in the image is a depression called Siddons and may be a volcanic caldera. This view is supported by the collapsed lava tubes surrounding the feature. By carefully studying this and other surrounding images scientists hope to discover what tectonic and volcanic processes formed this complex region. The solid black parts of the image represent data gaps that may be filled in by the Magellan extended mission.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1996-03-07