PIA00461: Venus - Mosaic of Bahet and Onatah Coronae
Target Name: Venus
Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun)
Mission: Magellan
Spacecraft: Magellan
Instrument: Imaging Radar
Product Size: 6940 samples x 5940 lines
Produced By: JPL
Producer ID: P37651
Addition Date: 1996-09-26
Primary Data Set: Magellan MIDRs
Full-Res TIFF: PIA00461.tif (35.51 MB)
Full-Res JPEG: PIA00461.jpg (15.1 MB)

Click on the image to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly cropped or reduced in size from original).

Original Caption Released with Image:
This mosaic of Magellan data in the Fortuna region of Venus, centered at 49 degrees north latitude, 2 degrees longitude, shows two coronae. Coronae are large circular or oval structures first identified in Soviet radar images of Venus. The structure on the left, Bahet Corona, is about 230 kilometers (138 miles) long and 150 kilometers (90 miles) across. A portion of Onatah Corona, over 350 kilometers (210 miles) in diameter, can be seen on the right of the mosaic. Both features are surrounded by a ring of ridges and troughs, which in places cut more radially-oriented fractures. The centers of the features also contain radial fractures as well as volcanic domes and flows. Coronae are thought to form due to the upwelling of hot material from deep in the interior of Venus. The two coronae may have formed at the same time over a single upwelling, or may indicate movement of the upwelling or the upper layers of the planet to the west over time. A 'pancake' dome, similar to low-relief domes see in the southern hemisphere, is located just to the southwest of Bahet. Resolution of the Magellan data is about 120 meters (400 feet).
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1996-09-26