The mapped area covers Beta and Phoebe Regios in the mid- to equatorial latitudes.

Lowlands with higher surface temperature, and hence stronger thermal emission, are maked in orange. Highlands and mountains with elevations of up to 5 km above the Venusian ‘sea level’ are about 40°C colder and appear blue in the mosaic.

The vast orange-yellow region, Hinemoa Planitia, represents relatively young lowland terrain that cover about 70% of the Venus surface. It formed about 700 million years ago due to volcanic eruptions that covered almost the entire planet.

Devana Chasma, the elongated feature connecting Beta Regio and Phoebe Regio, is a rift zone, resembling East-African rift on Earth. Rifts are expected to be the centres of current volcanic activity on Venus.

In contrast to mapping of the planets with thin atmospheres like Moon and Mars, spatial resolution on the Venus surface is strongly degraded because of its thick atmosphere and clouds. This veil scatters radiation numerous times before it reaches the camera.

This is why observing Venus’ surface from orbit is similar to looking though a frosted window where one can see only the silhouette of the object. This atmospheric blurring limits spatial resolution of the surface images to about 50 km.

Credits: ESA/VMC/MPS/IPF-DLR

The area mapped by the VMC includes some of the most typical geological units on Venus. Beta Regio and Phoebe Regio represent tesserae – some of the oldest terrain on the planet. The radar on board Magellan radar detected anomalously high reflectivity of the tops of Rhea and Theia mountains, indicating the presence of conductive, semiconductive, ferroelectric or ferromagnetic materials.

Devana Chasma, the elongated feature connecting Beta Regio and Phoebe Regio, is a rift zone, resembling the East-African rift on Earth. Such rifts are expected to be the centres of current volcanic activity on Venus.

The surface mosaics are currently used to study variation of mineralogical composition and its correlation with topography and radar reflectivity. They are also used to search for ongoing volcanic activity – a few square-kilometre flows of hot lava can be detected in such images as bright spots.

Credits: NASA/Magellan

The mapped area covers Beta and Phoebe Regios in the mid- to equatorial latitudes. The red circles mark the landing sites of the Soviet Venera landers (V) and the Pioneer Venus Large Probe (LP).

Lowlands with higher surface temperature, and hence stronger thermal emission, are maked in orange. Highlands and mountains with elevations of up to 5 km above the Venusian ‘sea level’ are about 40°C colder and appear blue in the mosaic.

The vast orange-yellow region, Hinemoa Planitia, represents relatively young lowland terrain that cover about 70% of the Venus surface. It formed about 700 million years ago due to volcanic eruptions that covered almost the entire planet.

Devana Chasma, the elongated feature connecting Beta Regio and Phoebe Regio, is a rift zone, resembling East-African rift on Earth. Rifts are expected to be the centres of current volcanic activity on Venus.

In contrast to mapping of the planets with thin atmospheres like Moon and Mars, spatial resolution on the Venus surface is strongly degraded because of its thick atmosphere and clouds. This veil scatters radiation numerous times before it reaches the camera.

This is why observing Venus’ surface from orbit is similar to looking though a frosted window where one can see only the silhouette of the object. This atmospheric blurring limits spatial resolution of the surface images to about 50 km.

Credits: ESA/VMC/MPS/IPF-DLR