Venus, False Color Image of Volcano Sapas Mons
False-color image shows the volcano Sapas Mons, which is located in the broad equatorial rise called Atla Regio. The area shown is approximately 404 miles on a side. Sapas Mons measures about 248 miles across and mile high. Its flanks show numerous overlapping lava flows. The dark flows on the lower right are thought to be smoother than the brighter ones near the central part of the volcano. Many of the flows appear to have been erupted along the flanks of the volcano rather than from the summit. This type of flank eruption is common on large volcanoes on Earth, such as the Hawaiian volcanoes. The summit area has two flat-topped mesas, whose smooth tops give a relatively dark appearance in the radar image. Magellan is a NASA spacecraft mission to map the surface of Venus with imaging radar. The basic scientific instrument is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR,) which can look through the thick clouds perpetually shielding the surface of Venus. Magellan is in orbit around Venus which completes one turn around its axis in 243 Earth days. That period of time, one Venus day, is the length of a Magellan mapping cycle.
Size: 3240px × 3240px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2nd, astronomical, astronomy, atla, body, celestial, color, deep, evening, false, heavenly, image, magellan, mons, morning, object, planet, radar, regio, sapas, science, sister, sky, space, star, system, terrestrial, venus, venusian, volcano
