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The mapping of Venus refers to the process and results of human description of the geological features of the planet Venus. It involves surface radar images of Venus, construction of geological maps , and the identification of stratigraphic units , volumes of rock with a similar age.
Venus surface rendered with Blender with color base map and heightmap from NASA and the USGS Licensing I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:
The surface of Venus is dominated by geologic features that include volcanoes, large impact craters, and aeolian erosion and sedimentation landforms. Venus has a topography reflecting its single, strong crustal plate, with a unimodal elevation distribution (over 90% of the surface lies within an elevation of -1.0 and 2.5 km) [1] that preserves geologic structures for long periods of time.
The surface of Venus is comparatively flat. When 93% of the topography was mapped by Pioneer Venus Orbiter, scientists found that the total distance from the lowest point to the highest point on the entire surface was about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), about the same as the vertical distance between the Earth's ocean floor and the higher summits of the Himalayas.
Venus may have had liquid surface water early in its history with a habitable environment, [24] [25] before a runaway greenhouse effect evaporated any water and turned Venus into its present state. [26] [27] [28] The rotation of Venus has been slowed and turned against its orbital direction by the currents and drag of its atmosphere. [29]
The very first visible-light images of Venus' surface from space have been captured by NASA's Parker Solar Probe, and it could help researchers piece together the mysteries of the distant planet.
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Missions to Venus and Image catalog at the National Space Science Data Center; Soviet Exploration of Venus and Image catalog at Mentallandscape.com; Venus page at The Nine Planets; Transits of Venus at NASA.gov; Geody Venus, a search engine for surface features; Cartographic resources. Map-a-Planet: Venus by the U.S. Geological Survey