Venus south polar vortex at night

This movie, obtained by images taken by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board ESA’s Venus Express shows the south polar vortex on the night side, also providing a view of the cloud system at Venus.

The images were obtained at 1.7 micrometres between February and April 2007, at a distance of 65 000 km from the planet. The figure shows morphology and dynamics of the lower clouds following the giant polar vortex.