The images of the Venus night-side clouds were made with the Anglo-Australian
3.9m telescope using the IRIS2
infrared camera. The images are made using a narrow-band filter at a
wavelength
of about 2.3 micrometres. At this wavelength we see the clouds
silhouetted
against thermal radiation from the hot lower atmosphere. The dark
regions
are clouds and the bright spots are clear patches where we can see
deeper
into the atmosphere. By looking at the motion of these clouds we can
study
the circulation patterns in the Venus atmosphere. The sunlit crescent
is
completely overexposed in this image.
Jul 9th 2004
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