Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Surface of Venus from Venera 14

APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 17 Mar, 2021 | Image Credit: Soviet Planetary Exploration Program, Venera 14; Processing & Copyright: Donald Mitche

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: If you could stand on Venus -- what would you see? Pictured is the view from Venera 14, a robotic Soviet lander which parachuted and air-braked down through the thick Venusian atmosphere in March of 1982. The desolate landscape it saw included flat rocks, vast empty terrain, and a featureless sky above Phoebe Regio near Venus' equator. On the lower left is the spacecraft's penetrometer used to make scientific measurements, while the light piece on the right is part of an ejected lens-cap. Enduring temperatures near 450 degrees Celsius and pressures 75 times that on Earth, the hardened Venera spacecraft lasted only about an hour. Although data from Venera 14 was beamed across the inner Solar System almost 40 years ago, digital processing and merging of Venera's unusual images continues even today. Recent analyses of infrared measurements taken by ESA's orbiting Venus Express spacecraft indicate that active volcanoes may currently exist on Venus.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌

[Don W]

Didn’t that thing chase after Steve Austin?

[ETL]

Hard to believe that incredible image was taken nearly 40 years ago.

[ETL]

If no human has ever set foot on Venus, how in heck did that candy wrapper get there?? (to the left of the large rock)

[ETL]

[maddog55]

That trash on the ground from a previous visitor ?

[Afterguard]

Fragment of a lander lenscap (but that requires reading the article) lol

[MtnClimber]

The writeup said it was a lens cover, but it looks like a cheeseburger wrapper.

[one guy in new jersey]

Penetrometer. Yes. An essential scientific instrument. Who could object to it’s use, in whatever plausible way, as long as it is being used in pursuit of the laudable goals of science? Nobody, of course.

[ETL]

At 900 deg F surface temp, a hamburger would cook in no time on Venus! And you wouldn’t need a frying pan or a grill. Just slap the patty down on the nearest flat rock.

[MtnClimber]

I thought women were from Venus.

[AFB-XYZ]

I cannot even comprehend that kind of a surface temperature. But I know of several politicians who would be right at home there.

[Auntie Dem]

Those pics aren’t from Venus, they were taken on a soundstage in Burbank. Everybody knows that. Notice no stars.

[AFB-XYZ]

I thought women were from Venus.

Not Rosie O'Donnell ... Heh. :-)

[left that other site]

So it’s not just Mercury who’s “Under pressure”?

[blueunicorn6]

I knew it.....I just knew it.

[yesthatjallen]

Show me one piece of evidence Venus used to be Earth-like.

[SuperLuminal]

Won’t congratulate the Ruskies until I see the diversity stats for the science, engineering, & management staffs...