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The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Flying over the cloud deck
This movie was built with ultraviolet images taken by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft on 24 April 2006, when the spacecraft was flying over the northern hemisphere, at distances ranging between 7505 and 1570 kilometres from the surface. The images were taken about every 5 minutes at the beginning of the sequence, and less than a minute apart from each other at the end.
The sequence allow a first qualitative analysis of the cloud structures. Low-contrast stripe-features are visible, possibly due to the presence of strong winds that produce elongated structures. Set of periodic ‘wave’ patterns in the clouds, possibly due to the local variation of temperature and pressure, or to a kind of tidal forces in action at Venus, can also be seen.
The mysterious ‘UV absorbers’, ultraviolet markings on the cloud top, are visible as darker features in this movie. They are so called because they absorb almost half of the solar energy received by the planet. The mysterious substance that causes this absorption still represents a true puzzle for the scientists.
Differently from Earth and other planets, Venus absorbs only the ultraviolet radiation coming from the sun, while it scatters most of the rest of the solar radiation. This is the reason why Venus appears so bright in the sky (high ‘albedo’).
