Venus -2

Only radar can probe through the thick clouds in the Venusian atmosphere to make observations of the surface. Radar data collected over many years from multiple sources were used to create the beautiful, color-coded portrait of Venus’s surface, above right. This striking image, right, is a composite of the complete radar image collection of Venus’s surface, obtained by NASA’s Magellan mission. The image uses simulated colors based on actual color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft.