Venus' surface

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Caption: This image is a computer-aided rendering of the surface of the planet Venus. Since visual light cannot penetrate the thick clouds in Venus' atmosphere, the image was obtained with radio waves. NASA's space probe Megallan, launched in 1989 mapped Venus' surface between 1990 and 1994.
Credit: NASA/JPL
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Glossary Terms: Planet , Terrestrial Planet , Venus , Inner Planet
Categories: Solar System

License: Public Domain Public Domain icons

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Venus in visible light

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Caption: This picture taken by NASA's Mariner 10 probe shows what the planet Venus looks like when looking at it with naked eyes. Venus is enshrouded inside a thick cloudy atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide, never revealing its hot surface.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Glossary Terms: Planet , Terrestrial Planet , Venus , Inner Planet
Categories: Solar System

License: Public Domain Public Domain icons

File ( image 94.31 kB)

Venus Transit from Tempe, AZ, USA , June 5, 2012

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Caption: While the planet Venus regularly passes between the Sun and the Earth, most of the time it passes above or below the Sun when observed from Earth. On rare occasions, the planet Venus passes directly in front of the Sun for observers on Earth. The last such Venus transits were in 2004 and 2012, respectively. The next such transit will be in 2117. The picture was taken at 18:54 PDT on June 5, 2012, from Tempe, Arizona, US. The telescope used was an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain with ND5 filter; the camera was a Sony NEX5N with the APS sensor placed at prime focus. Clearly visible are the disk of the Sun, Venus as a prominent round spot. Several sun spots also appear on the solar disk.
Credit: Stephen Rector
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Glossary Terms: Transit , Venus
Categories: Solar System

License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported icons

File ( image 4.60 MB)

Venus and Mercury Trails

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Created for the OAE

Caption: Honorable mention in the 2023 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category of Still images of phases of Venus. In this composite image, both Mercury (left) and Venus (right) can be seen heading into the sunset. The phases of each are beautifully captured as they descend. Not all planets or moons in the Solar System show phases as viewed from Earth. This phenomenon occurs because the orbits of Venus and Mercury are positioned between Earth’s orbit and the Sun, sometimes allowing us to see only part of the illuminated portion of each planet. These phases are similar to the phases we see of our own Moon.
Credit: Marcella Giulia Pace (CC BY 4.0)

Glossary Terms: Mercury , Phase , Venus
Categories: Solar System
Tags: astrophotography

License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

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Phases of Venus

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Created for the OAE

Caption: First place winner in the 2023 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category of Still images of phases of Venus. This is a mesmerising series of images of Venus captured from Surgères, Charente-Maritime, France, over a period of six months in 2015. The phases appear similar to the phases we see of our own Moon and occur for similar reasons. Only half of Venus is illuminated by the Sun and, from Earth, we can sometimes only see part of that illuminated half, depending on the relative positions of the Sun, Earth and Venus. Both Mercury and Venus exhibit phases because their orbit is between the Sun and the orbit of Earth. Depending on the position of Venus relative to the Sun and Earth, Venus goes through its phases over a period of time. This sequence of images beautifully showcases the transition from the ‘gibbous’ to the slender crescents. The use of infrared filters helped to capture Venus's dense perpetual cloud cover during daylight in sharp detail, providing a glimpse into the mysterious nature of the planet’s atmosphere.
Credit: Stephane Gonzales/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)

Glossary Terms: Phase , Venus
Categories: Solar System
Tags: astrophotography

License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

This file on Zenodo ( image 1.43 MB)