First data from Venus Express ! Options

[Decepticon]

Did anyone catch the Venus Express TV Special on Science channel?

I was surprised how fast it went to air.
At the end of the ep you see the images released so far.


It interesting to see the discussion of life and whats it's really like on the surface.

[4th rock from th...]

I got some more info out of Kevin Baines about these images...
http://www.planetary.org/news/2006/0414_Fi...mages_Peel.html

--Emily

And that info helps a lot :-) ! Here are some processed images based on the released image.

Atempt to process the IR and UV data into a visible image, using CIE colourspace convertion.


IR data (950 and 1700) full polar image. Some data was cloned to fill the missing parts, so this is more of a "creative" image than scientific.


Same as above in cylindrical projection.


An atempt to derive "visible" maps from the IR data.




This first images show a lot of details and I can't wait for more images to come!!!

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6041570.stm

Scientists at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Pasadena, California, this week said that data streaming from the Venus Express probe had provided unprecedented detail of the Venusian atmosphere and the first-ever peek at its lower strata.

[helvick]

....this week said that data streaming from the Venus Express probe had provided unprecedented detail of the Venusian atmosphere ...

Well it's good to know that someone is getting "streams" of data. All the images the BBC used have been online for months - most are shown above in this thread and were posted here six months ago.

However it must be said that this article is one of the most informed we've seen on the mission since it started doing science in earnest and to save you all the bother I have extracted all of the information it contains that we did not already know prior to VEx reaching the planet.

But for now, scientists are happy to report that all the instruments are in good working order and beaming back massive amounts of data. "It's a treasure trove of information," said David Grinspoon, a participating scientist with the mission, "and we've barely opened the chest and looked in."

Thanks for that. I would note that it is my belief that the above is slightly incorrect as the PFS is still offline. I live in hope that my grand children will some day get to see this treasure trove.

[djellison]

Well - stuff should start hitting the PDS soon....we need a slinted-type effort to process the whole damn lot in an easily viewable option.

Doug

[Rakhir]

A new press release for VEX but just two images !

Complex meteorology at Venus

[elakdawalla]

Two more images and one more movie have dribbled out:

Happy Birthday, Venus Express!

Sigh. I'd give a lot to see them just release a daily or even weekly apoapsis image so we could watch the clouds move....I'm really not asking for anything fancy...

--Emily

[MarkL]

Well it's a fairly boring mission from my point of view. We'll never land on Venus anyway. I've just put Venus Express on ignore since ESA doesn't seem to want to keep updates flowing regularly. Much more exciting stuff at Saturn and Mars. Where we might, one day, conceivably land a human.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Anyone see the recent Sky at Night special on Venus Express? They only showed a couple of pictures, and they were all from the ESA website and ones we've already seen. And come to think of it, they didn't really say much at all about Venus Express science, certainly didn't reveal anything new.

[djellison]

Yup - I was watching very closely.....did you spot the Victoria crater navcam pan.....anyho - very very little actually about VEX.....but to be honest, that's what I've come to expect from VEX - they had the platform to say "we're seing this this and this" - and said almost nothing.

Doug

[ngunn]

Sky at Night. And come to think of it, they didn't really say much at all about Venus Express science

Yes I noticed that. Either Patrick Moore has been sworn to secrecy or ther're not even showing him the stuff.

[ustrax]

Hot! Hot! Hot!

[elakdawalla]

In case ustrax wasn't clear, there is a new release showing surface details resolved by VIRTIS.

I wonder, could any of you folks who like playing with simulated views of the planets produce a better Magellan comparison image than the one ESA released? They used a horrible base map. The comparison should be a global view centered at 270 E, 27 S, according to the caption information.

--Emily

[volcanopele]

Nice write-up about this on your blog, Emily. However, I think that the release image shows both the actual data from VIRTIS, as well as a simulated view of temperatures based on altimetry data from Magellan, not VIRTIS data corrected for altitude. so this release is more about showing how well surface temperatures correlate with altitude.

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, the Magellan map is modelled temperature based on topography and some assumed lapse rate. The key here is to look for differences between measured and modelled temps, which might reveal hot spots - active volcanism.

And Emily - your map of the Venus hemisphere is - alas - wrong! You are looking at Ovda Regio, not Phoebe. You're about 180 degrees off. Mixed up east and west longitudes?

Phil