Venus Cloudtops Captured by Hubble

Credit: NASA/STScI/ESA · Download full size image

This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet-light image of theplanet Venus, taken on January 24 1995, when Venus was at a distance of 70.6 million miles (113.6 million kilometers) from Earth. Venus is covered with clouds made of sulfuric acid, rather than thewater-vapor clouds found on Earth. These clouds permanently shroud Venus' volcanic surface, which has been radar mapped by spacecraft andfrom Earth-based telescope. Posted on: 18 Mar, 2003