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
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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 movie consists of a sequence of six images obtained by the VIRTIS imaging spectrometer on board ESA’s Venus Express on 5 and 6 June 2007, before and after NASA MESSENGER’s closest approach to the planet.
The image sequence, obtained by VIRTIS, provides a night-side view of the same region that Messenger flew over and imaged.
They were obtained at 1.7 micrometres, revealing atmospheric details down to an altitude of 50 km from the surface.
A combined image made of the six images featured in this video can be downloaded here [ ORB410_411_tot.tif ]