Date: 04 Dec 2008
Satellite: Venus Express
Depicts: Composite view of Venus in infrared and ultraviolet
Copyright: ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA & ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA

False-colour composite view of Venus's southern hemisphere in the infrared (red: VIRTIS, 5 μm) and ultraviolet (purple: VMC, 0.365 μm). Brightness in the VIRTIS data tracks the cloud top temperature. The VMC UV data reveals the distribution of the unknown UV absorber at the cloud tops.

The oval feature in the polar region is the eye of the south polar vortex - a dynamical structure about 2000 km in size which is ~30 K warmer than its surroundings. The vortex eye is displaced from the south pole by about 1000 km, has an irregular and strongly variable shape, and rotates around the pole in ~2.5 days. The atmosphere rotates counter clockwise in this view.