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
Go to topicThis false-colour ultraviolet image of the atmopshere of Venus was obtained by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board ESA’s Venus Express on 27 July 2007 from a distance of about 15 000 km, at a wavelength of 365 nanometres. The edge of the southern polar hood is seen at the bottom. The octagonal shape of the image is due to the VMC field of view.
This image shows the transition between the equatorial area dominated by convection and the mid-latitude area populated by streaky clouds. This region is located at about 40-50 degrees latitude. The way the transition between structures and dynamics so different from each other occurs, is one of the outstanding enigmas in our understanding Venus.