                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2025 May 11
       A black & white image shows an empty flat landscape filled with
   flattened rocks. At the bottom is part of the spacecraft that captured
     this image of the planet Venus. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                     The Surface of Venus from Venera 14
       Image Credit: Soviet Planetary Exploration Program, Venera 14;
    Processing & Copyright: Donald Mitchell & Michael Carroll (used with
                                 permission)

   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 over 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.

                   Jigsaw Fun: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                   Tomorrow's picture: Milky Way side view
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

