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The evolution of Venus: Present state of knowledge and future exploration
Leblanc, François; Chassefière, Eric; Marty, Bernard +1 more
A detailed characterization of the formation and evolution of Venus is a key link to the study of terrestrial planets, and to their divergent evolutions. While Earth and to a lesser extent Mars (thanks to the analysis of SNC meteorites) are extensively studied in a comparative planetology context, the history of the most Earth-like planet of the S…
SPICAV IR acousto-optic spectrometer experiment on Venus Express
Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Korablev, Oleg; Reberac, A. +11 more
SPICAV IR, a part of SPICAV/SOIR suite on Venus Express, is a compact single pixel spectrometer for the spectral range of 0.65-1.7 µm based on acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF) technology. SPICAV IR is derived from SPICAM IR operating on Mars Express, the first AOTF spectrometer in the deep space, and adapted for Venus atmosphere measure…
Search for ongoing volcanic activity on Venus: Case study of Maat Mons, Sapas Mons and Ozza Mons volcanoes
Roatsch, Th.; Basilevsky, A. T.; Markiewicz, W. J. +3 more
We report on attempts to find the ongoing volcanic activity from near-infrared night-time observations with the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard of Venus Express. Here we consider VMC images of the areas of Maat Mons volcano and its vicinities, which, as it follows from analysis of the Magellan data, show evidence of geologically very recent …
A teardrop-shaped ionosphere at Venus in tenuous solar wind
Coates, A. J.; Barabash, S.; Lundin, R. +9 more
A very tenuous solar wind regime, following a series of large coronal mass ejections, impacted Venus during early August, 2010. STEREO-B downstream from Venus observed that the solar wind density at Earth orbit dropped to ∼0.1 #/cm3 and persisted at this value over 1 day. A similar low value was observed at Earth in 1999 and has attract…
The OH Venus nightglow spectrum: Intensity and vibrational composition from VIRTIS—Venus Express observations
Drossart, Pierre; Piccioni, Giuseppe; Gérard, Jean-Claude +1 more
Limb spectra of the OH nightglow emission corresponding to the Δv=1 and Δv=2 sequences have been collected with the VIRTIS infrared imaging spectrograph on board Venus Express between April 2006 and October 2008. A detailed statistical analysis shows that the peak intensity and altitude of the two vibrational sequences are significantly correlated…
Limb Darkening study using Venus nightside infrared spectra from VIRTIS-Venus Express data
Drossart, Pierre; Longobardo, Andrea; Palomba, Ernesto +3 more
The Limb Darkening (LD) effect consists in an attenuation of the measured radiance at increasing emergence angles, due to the larger portion of the atmosphere traversed by the radiation observed at higher emergence angles. The behaviour of radiance emerging with atmosphere as function of the emergence angle (i.e., the Limb Darkening Function) is r…
The transterminator ion flow at Venus at solar minimum
Coates, A. J.; Kallio, E.; Grande, M. +10 more
The transterminator ion flow in the Venusian ionosphere is observed at solar minimum for the first time. Such a flow, which transports ions from the day to the nightside, has been observed previously around solar maximum. At solar minimum this transport process is severely inhibited by the lower altitude of the ionopause. The observations presente…