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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Akatsuki Views Venus

Akatsuki Views Venus
Akatsuki Views Venus Seen in natural color, Venus is as featureless as a cue ball. In ultraviolet wavelengths, a mysterious atmospheric component absorbs sunlight, outlining patterns in Venus’ clouds. Like a weather satellite, Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter swings far from Venus on each 10-day orbit and watches the clouds move through cameras that see in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths. JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Damia Bouic

Images were taken with Akatsuki's UVI camera. Composites made from image pairs taken through 283-nm and 365-nm filters. Raw images were taken between 2017-08-08 17:01 and 207-08-11 06:43.