Venus - the PLANET - Venusian landscape - Gula Mons and Crater Cunitz

Gula Mons and Crater Cunitz
Target Name: Venus
Spacecraft: Magellan
Produced by: NASA/JPL
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Cross Reference: P38720

Venus, the PLANET, was named after the Romanised version of Kythera's goddess - Aphrodite.

I regard Venus as Kythera's planet.

It is fitting that the occurence of the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun, [Jun 8, 2004], has focused the attention of the entire world onto Kythera's planet.

"A portion of western Eistla Regio is displayed in this three- dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 1,310 kilometers (812 miles) southwest of Gula Mons at an elevation of 0.78 kilometer (0.48 mile). The view is to the northeast with Gula Mons appearing on the horizon. Gula Mons, a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) high volcano, is located at approximately 22 degrees north latitude, 359 degrees east longitude. The impact crater Cunitz, named for the astronomer and mathematician Maria Cunitz, is visible in the center of the image. The crater is 48.5 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter and is 215 kilometers (133 miles) from the viewer's position. Magellan synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. Rays cast in a computer intersect the surface to create a three- dimensional perspective view. Simulated color and a digital elevation map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, are used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. The image was produced at the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and is a single frame from a video released at the March 5, 1991, JPL news conference."

This image is in the public domain and is copyright free.

For more images of Kythera's planet - see,

http://www.solarviews.com/cap/venus