Planets and Moons ID: 3728

Magellan: Venus False-Color Terrain

Visualizations by Ernie Wright Released on June 17, 2010

This animation is a brief tour of the global terrain of the planet Venus as revealed by radar onboard the Magellan spacecraft. The height of the terrain is color-coded, with blues and greens representing low altitudes and reds representing high altitudes. Highlighted are two large "continents," or highlands, Aphrodite Terra and Ishtar Terra; the Maxwell Montes mountain range; and Maat Mons, a large, currently dormant volcano.

Magellan arrived at Venus in August of 1990 and spent four years there collecting data. The elevation map used here was created with data collected during the first mapping cycle. Many of the coverage gaps, represented here by black pixels, were filled in during later mapping cycles.

Simulation of a natural color surface. The true surface color of Venus has not been mapped. Color variations in this view are based on a global radar map of surface slope, which tends to highlight rougher terrain. Relatively flat plains, some covered by old lava floods, are darker in this view.

Ishtar Terra is the second-largest highland on Venus. It includes the Maxwell Montes mountains, the highest on the planet.

Maat Mons is the tallest volcano on Venus. Evidence from Magellan indicates it may have been active in relatively recent times.

Diana Chasma, bottom center in this image, is part of a network of chasmata (large surface cracks) that extend a third of the way around Venus from Aphrodite Terra to Maat Mons.