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.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This false-colour movie was built with ultraviolet images taken by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft on 22 May 2006. The spacecraft was flying over the northern hemisphere approaching the planet, over
distances ranging between about 39 100 and 22 600 kilometres from the surface.
The images were taken at 365 nanometres, starting respectively 03:30 and 01:45 hours before reaching the pericentre (point of closest approach of the spacecraft to Venus). The complex atmosphere that surrounds the planet is clearly visible.
The true-colour (grey-scale) version of this movie can be downloaded here.