Venera Images, VENERA 13 fully calibrated image Options

[vikingmars]

Here is the Venera 13 fully calibrated image, produced from raw imaging 3-filters data (note the 3 horizons at left well discernible). It was published inside "L'Astronomie Magazine" of Societe Astronomique de France.
Enjoy !

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[RNeuhaus]

Very different type of terrain. Mainly rocky, no sand or silica dust. No water erosion signs. Interesting.

Rodolfo

[JRehling]

Very different type of terrain. Mainly rocky, no sand or silica dust. No water erosion signs. Interesting.

Rodolfo

While these new presentations are aesthetically wonderful, the old, unnatural-looking presentations of Venera imagery allowed this level of observation, so they are not new to us. The four sites are quite different, with boulders atop/embedded in soil at two sites and large, plate sheets of rock at the other two. It is certainly the case that water erosion could not have acted on any portion of Venus's surface since the last major resurfacing event (if ever) -- if there are any ancient surfaces that show past water influence of any kind, we will have to hunt them down very carefully. Such formations may not exist at all.

There is sand/pebble soil visible in Venera 9 and Venera 13 surface views. Fine dust may be rare. It seems likely that chemical production of dust is not a major phenomenon, and mechanical processes that produce dust seem to be rare also. Because the surface temperature is very constant, there are only light winds, so dust will not beget new dust much.

[tedstryk]

While these new presentations are aesthetically wonderful, the old, unnatural-looking presentations of Venera imagery allowed this level of observation, so they are not new to us. The four sites are quite different, with boulders atop/embedded in soil at two sites and large, plate sheets of rock at the other two. It is certainly the case that water erosion could not have acted on any portion of Venus's surface since the last major resurfacing event (if ever) -- if there are any ancient surfaces that show past water influence of any kind, we will have to hunt them down very carefully. Such formations may not exist at all.

There is sand/pebble soil visible in Venera 9 and Venera 13 surface views. Fine dust may be rare. It seems likely that chemical production of dust is not a major phenomenon, and mechanical processes that produce dust seem to be rare also. Because the surface temperature is very constant, there are only light winds, so dust will not beget new dust much.

I have always thought the Venera 9 site looks like a Viking landing site.

[Bob Shaw]

I have always thought the Venera 9 site looks like a Viking landing site.

Or even the latest Meridiani images!

Bob Shaw

[tedstryk]

Or even the latest Meridiani images!

Bob Shaw

I think Venera 13 is more Meridiani-ish.

[JRehling]

I think Venera 13 is more Meridiani-ish.

Venera 14 looks like someone took a vacuum cleaner to Meridiani.

It's striking how much, at a glance, the Huygens surface picture looks like Venera 9's.

It's also interesting that Venus, Mars, and Titan all have orangeish light coming through their atmospheres. If you want to see another world with a blue, purple, green, yellow, or red sky, you're going to have to try another solar system.

[tedstryk]

Venera 14 looks like someone took a vacuum cleaner to Meridiani.

It's striking how much, at a glance, the Huygens surface picture looks like Venera 9's.

It's also interesting that Venus, Mars, and Titan all have orangeish light coming through their atmospheres. If you want to see another world with a blue, purple, green, yellow, or red sky, you're going to have to try another solar system.

Unless perhaps you are on a blimp in the atmosphere or Uranus or Neptune, which I am assuming would produce a blue sky.

Seriously, it is caused by an interesting set of circumstances. Earth's sky appears blue because blue light is more easily scattered, while red light makes it to the surface with less trouble. Venus is so good at scattering that hardly any blue light reaches the surface. I am guessing that Titan is similar, although, unlike Venus, I have not seen spectra (which must exist from Huygens). Venus and Titan of course have thicker atmospheres than Earth. Mars should certainly have a blue sky, it was surmised by Viking scientists, but suspended red dust wrecks havoc on the idea. I think truely green or yellow skies are going to be rare in the universe. Blue (which I am assuming would be Violet if the human eye weren't more sensitive to blue light) and red are end members of the visible spectrum, meaning that blue/violet and red skies could mean true peaks in infrared or ultraviolet. To be green or yellow, the peak would have to truely be in that spectral range.