NASA Photo ID: S90-49777 File Name: 10063347.jpg
Film Type: 4x5 BW Date Taken: 10/09/90
Title: Magellan radar image compared to high resolution Earth-based image of Venus
Description:
A strip of a Magellan radar image (left) is compared to a high resolution
Earth-based radar image of Venus, obtained by the U.S. National Astronomy
and Ionosphere Center's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The small
white box in the Arecibo image corresponds to the Magellan image. This
portion of the Magellan imagery shows a small region on the east flank of
a major volcanic upland called Beta Regio. The image is centered at 23
degrees north latitude and 286.7 degrees east longitude. The ridge and
valley network in the middle part of the image is formed by intersecting
faults which have broken the Venusian crust into a complex deformed type
of surface called tessera, the Latin word for tile. The parallel
mountains and valleys resemble the Basin and Range Province in the western
United States. The irregular dark patch near the top of the image is a
smooth surface, probably formed, according to scientists, by lava flows in
a region about 10 kilometers (6 miles) across. Similar dark surfaces
within the valleys indicate lava flows that are younger than the tessera.
The Arecibo image contains probably impact craters, many faults, volcanic
flows and tessera regions that will be mapped in detail by Magellan. The
Magellan image has a resolution of 120 meters (400 feet). View provided
by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with alternate number P-36523.
Subject terms:
CRATERS
FAULTS
MAGELLAN SPACECRAFT (NASA)
RADAR DATA
VENUS (PLANET)
VENUS SURFACE
VOLCANOES
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