Scientists intrigued by first images of Venusian south pole
Venus Express has returned the first ever images of the hothouse planet's southern pole. Taken from a distance of 206,452 km, the images are surprisingly clear and show unexpected detail. The images were taken on 12 April, during the spacecraft's initial capture orbit after arrival on 11 April. Venus Express was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Scientists are already intrigued by a dark vortex, shown almost directly over the south pole. 'Just one day after arrival, we are already experiencing the hot, dynamic environment of Venus,' said Dr Hakan Svedhem, a Venus Express project scientist. 'We will see much more detail at an unprecedented level as we get over 100 times better resolution as we get closer to Venus, and we expect to see these spiral structures evolve very quickly.' During this first capture orbit, Venus Express will have an additional five opportunities for gathering data, and will be able to continue capturing the full disc of Venus. The opportunity will not arise again during the nominal mission, starting on 4 June, when the craft will be much closer to the planet. In addition to imaging instruments, Venus Express is carrying a magnetometer and ASPERA - an analyser of space plasma and energetic atoms. Together, the two instruments are expected to gather information on the planet's unperturbed solar wind and the atmospheric escape processes on Venus, a planet with no magnetic protection.