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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Venus' southern vortex

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A movie of the complicated swirling motions of Venus' south polar vortex as seen at a near-infrared wavelength of 3.8 microns, acquired by the Venus Express VIRTIS camera. The set of images show the temperature of the clouds' top. Darker regions correspond to higher temperature and thus lower altitude. The temperature contrast leads to an apparent three-dimensional effect of the images.