Re-processed images of Venus

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JonClarke

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http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060911_venus_images.html<br /><br />Absolutely gob-smacking! Especially the rugged terrain at the Venera 13 . Tremendous kudos to Don Mitchell for reprocessing these images and even more to the Lavochin team and the Soviet space program who got them in the first place. Looking at them it is hard to imagine the hellish temperatures, pressures, and chemistries.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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brellis

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Finally, some images that can be understood by the average human! I've been trying to get a "mind's eye" p.o.v. of venus, but it seems that all the readily-available images are color-coded spectrogaphic something-or-other representations. This image puts venus with mars and titan as other worlds to be thought of in the realm of science, not impossibly different from earth. Cheers to Mr. Mitchell for his patient work! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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The basic images have been about for since the misisons, so we have known what Venus's surface looks like years. What Don has done is process the original digital data with modern technology, with stunning results. His web page is well worth a visit. http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm .<br /><br />Jon <br /><i>Edited to fix link</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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3488

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Amazing stuff & congratulations to Don Mitchell.<br /><br />The Venera 13 image shows to me what looks like rifting, the crust has been forced upwards & split. The hills IMO are actually canyon walls.<br /><br />Venera 13 was lucky to have not crashed into the canyon. <br /><br />I hope something similar can be done for the other successful Venera landers.<br /><br />After launch and a four month cruise to Venus, the descent vehicle separated from the bus and plunged into the Venus atmosphere on 1 March 1982. After entering the atmosphere a parachute was deployed. At an altitude of 47 km the parachute was released and simple airbraking was used the rest of the way to the surface. <br /><br />Venera 13 landed about 950 km northeast of Venera 14 at 7 deg 30 min South, 303 deg East, just east of the eastern extension of an elevated region known as Phoebe Regio. <br /><br />The area was composed of bedrock outcrops surrounded by dark, fine-grained soil. After landing an imaging panorama was started and a mechanical drilling arm reached to the surface and obtained a sample, which was deposited in a hermetically sealed chamber, maintained at 30 degrees C and a pressure of about .05 atmospheres. The composition of the sample determined by the X-ray flourescence spectrometer put it in the class of weakly differentiated melanocratic alkaline gabbroids. <br /><br />The lander survived for 127 minutes (the planned design life was 32 minutes) in an environment with a temperature of 457 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 94 Earth atmospheres. The descent vehicle transmitted data to the bus, which acted as a data relay as it flew by Venus. <br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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Venera 14, has landed on a fairly smooth volcanic plain.<br /><br />Jon Clarke, yes you are right, it was a tremendous acheivement considering the conditions. I wonder if we could actually do much better now?<br /><br />These images may be the closest we have for a while to what the early Earth may have been like after the crust formed. <br /><br />I hope my Io mission will be approved at some point & will be interesting to compare these images with those from recently volcanically active areas on Earth & from Io.<br /><br />As brellis said, it is good to have images that we can see as landscapes, not as a distorted arc (all the detail was there, but was hard to see).<br /><br />After launch and a four month cruise to Venus, the descent vehicle separated from the bus and plunged into the Venus atmosphere on 5 March 1982. After entering the atmosphere a parachute was deployed. At an altitude of about 50 km the parachute was released and simple airbraking was used the rest of the way to the surface. <br /><br />Venera 14 landed about 950 km southwest of Venera 13 near the eastern flank of Phoebe Regio at 13 deg 15 min South by 310 deg East on a basaltic plain. <br /><br />After landing an imaging panorama was started and a mechanical drilling arm reached to the surface and obtained a sample, which was deposited in a hermetically sealed chamber, maintained at 30 degrees C and a pressure of about .05 atmospheres. The composition of the sample was determined by the X-ray flourescence spectrometer, showing it to be similar to oceanic tholeiitic basalts. <br /><br />The lander survived for 57 minutes (the planned design life was 32 minutes) in an environment with a temperature of 465 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 94 Earth atmospheres. The descent vehicle transmitted data to the bus, which acted as a data relay as it flew by Venus. <br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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Philotas

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Simply astsonishing. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> It's like revisiting Venus. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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silylene old

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It is well worth looking up the original photos, not the ones attached here (image quality degraded to fit to the 100k limit).<br /><br />Both Venusian locations show similar slabs on the surface, and I see what I interpret as rather clear layering of deposits. Probably result from layering of wind blown episodes of volcanic ash deposition(?). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>
 
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3488

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Hi borman,<br /><br />Afraid not. The general idea is that Venus is re-surfaced on a global scale every 500 million years or so, by fresh volcanic outpourings. <br /><br />This may or may not be true, but the surface regardless is far too young to date back to the earliest periods (3.8 + billion years ago) when the Sun was less powerful than now & when Venus may have had hot surface water, before solar brightening & large scale volcanism caused the runaway greenhouse effect to kick in.<br /><br />It is layered deposits of wind blown ash I am afraid.<br /><br />Hi Silylene. <br /><br />I posted the images because, the links do not appear to work for everybody (the Ceres thread being a good example in my case), so I wanted everyone to see them. Yes you are correct, I had to compress the images to fit to 100 KB size limit, so are not as good as the originals.<br /><br />It is indeed like re-visiting Venus with new landing spacecraft.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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There is evidence on wind deposition on Venus in Magellan radar images. Streaks mainly, and some and dunes. <br /><br />Compositionally the surface is mostly basaltic, from the in situ Venera and Vega measurements. The layering could also be due flow banding in very fluid flows. But basaltic composition is also consistent with volcanic ash, as well as lava, the ash could be primary or reworked by the wind. <br /><br />Another possibility is the development of weathering rinds. OIn venus, weathering is more like the sort of mineral changes on Earth we associate with the of contact metamorphism, especially of carbonate-rich rocks. The classic reaction is the formation of wollastonite by the reaction of CO2 and quartz. The temperature and pressure on the surface of Venus is so close to the equilibrium temperature of this reaction that there has been a suggestion that the it acts as an atmospheric buffer. There are a wide range of similar reactions also. I recently wrote a review of them, I will dig it out at work and post it tomorrow.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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3488

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Cheers Jon.<br /><br />I would like to see it.<br /><br />Do I have your permission to print it & also save it as a word document? If you say no, I will not do it, you have my word.<br /><br />The dunes visible on the Magellan images, show that there is an awful lot of loose material on the surface of Venus. With that dense atmosphere (average 95 times pressure to that of Earth), it would not take much of a breeze to build them up!! I suspect the dunes too are made of wind blown volcanic ash.<br /><br />I hope Don Mitchell will do the views facing the other way to the above. His images are just 'WOW'<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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Exerpt from chapter 13 (by JDA Clarke) of "Australian regolith studies" (Pain & Scott, in prep.)<br /><br />"The corrosive atmosphere and high temperatures and pressures suggest that chemical weathering may be significant on Venus (McGill et al. 1983). Furthermore, the reactions are often reversible over the temperature ranges experienced between the highest and lowest elevations of the planet. These reactions resemble more closely terrestrial thermal metamorphic processes than they do weathering. Examples include:<br /><br />* Wollastonite + CO2 << />> calcite + quartz<br /><br />* Forsterite + CO2 << />> magnesite + enstatite<br /><br />* 2 forsterite + diposide + 2CO2 << />> 2 dolomite + 4 enstatite<br /><br />* Calcite + enstatite + CO2 << />> 2 dolomite + quartz <br /><br />Traces gases in the atmosphere of Venus include water, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride. The following reactions may occur if they are present in significant quantities:<br /><br />* 2 diopside + 3 enstatite + quartz + H2O << />> tremolite + 2 oxygen<br /><br />* 2 anorthite + 5 enstatite + quartz + H2O << />> tremolite + 2 andalusite<br /><br />* Orthoclase + 2 enstatite + 2 HF << />> phlogopite + 3 quartz + H2O<br /><br />* 2 albite + 2HCl << />> 2 halite + andalusite + 5 quartz + H2O<br /><br />Despite this, images from four locations on the surface of Venus (Veneras 9, 10, 13, & 14) show apparently unweathered surfaces. Whether this is because weathering proceeds more slowly than expected, or the four sites are fortuitously on young surfaces, or because the weathering do not produce mesoscopic degradation features familiar to terrestrial scientists, is not clear. However, the presence of loose regolith in most of the images shows that some weathering and fragmentation is occurring even at these sites.<br /><br />Measured wind velocities on Venus are low, less than 2m/s. These are, however, sufficient to move <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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3488

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Hi Jon,<br /><br />Thanks for that. Will print it off & have a proper read.<br /><br />In your own opinion with the evidence so far produced, do you think that Venus undergoes regular basaltic resurfacing every 500 million years or so?<br /><br />The images re-produced by Don Mitchell both show that Veneras 13 & 14 (particularly 14) landed on very youthful terrain. Ithink the terrain at 13's site is older, but is still quite young.<br /><br />I still think that the 'valley' in the top left in 13's image is a rift valley, it looks to me as if the surface has cracked from beneath.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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Hi Jon,<br /><br />Thanks for that. Will print it off & have a proper read.<br /><br />In your own opinion with the evidence so far produced, do you think that Venus undergoes regular basaltic resurfacing every 500 million years or so?<br /><br />The images re-produced by Don Mitchell both show that Veneras 13 & 14 (particularly 14) landed on very youthful terrain. I think the terrain at 13's site is older, but is still quite young.<br /><br />I still think that the 'valley' in the top left in 13's image is a rift valley, it looks to me as if the surface has cracked from beneath.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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Werll, there is a paucity of large, cold craters. the resurfacing argument is as good as any I have heard! Not that I have heard too many.<br /><br />I have no idea what causes the relief in the venera 13 image. Rifting is one possibility, I suppose collapse from draining of lava is another. <br /><br />I have not seen any attempt to correlate what was seen in the lander images with what was observed by the radar missions. Come to that, most maps of Venus don't even show where the landers came down. I suspect that up till now the assumption has been that there is nothing in the images large enough to be visible in the radar images. Does anyone know the resolution of the Magellan radar?<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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3488

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Hi Jon,<br /><br />Yes you could be right. Looking at Venera 13's image again, there is a resemblence to the Hadley Rille on the moon, visited by Apollo 15.<br /><br />At the moment, either a very large colllapsed lava tube as this would suggest or rifting could explain what is seen.<br /><br />The Magellan Radar images had an average resolution of 110 metres / 360 feet, (I think a few selected areas were seen at a little higher resolution).<br /><br />I will isolate & try to enhance that portion of the Venera 13 image to try & see if there is layering in the valley wall. <br /><br />I will post the image on this thread, when ready to do so.<br /><br />Venera 13 landed at: 7 degrees & 30 minutes South, 303 degrees East (57 degrees West).<br /><br />Venera 14 landed at: 13 degrees & 15 minutes South, 310 degrees East (50 degrees West).<br /><br />These co-ordinates would place both of these, just east of raised terrain in Phoebe Regio.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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I have coordinates of all the landing sites, but I am not sure how accurate they are. I am also not sure how far the horizon is in the photos. Venera 13 would be the best to try and pick. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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3488

Guest
Hi Jon,<br /><br />I have been able to pull out some extra detail from a fragment of the Venera 13 image.<br /><br />I do not know what the scale is, but I have found some evidence of layering in the valley wall.<br /><br />The hill in the distance too has some detail.<br /><br />The original was a bmp file, so not lost any real detail from the original. <br /><br />I enhanced the enlarged extract also as a bmp file, to keep the definition, then re-saved as a JPEG to allow posting. This small section is 93 KB, so only just got it in.<br /><br />It is still difficult to tell what the nature of this feature is.<br />It could still be either:<br /><br />1). A rift valley, where magma rose from the mantle, pushing & splitting the crust above.<br /><br />Or,<br /><br />2). A collapsed Lava Tube much like those on Hawaii, Canary Islands, the Hadley Rille on the moon at the Apollo 15 site or those found on Pavonis Mons on Mars.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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newtonian

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JobClarke - Er - gob-smacking???<br /><br />Thank you for the link and pictures at SDC. <br /><br />Curious why the pictures are not in color? Did they have to sacrifice color to get the added detail. My Science Encyclopedia shows color images from Venera 13 and 14, mostly yellowish.
 
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JonClarke

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It's a great expression, is it not? <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Don't know why they aren't in colour, you would have to ask Don Mitchell that. I assume it's because it is a work in progress. Colour ones, like fully rectified Venera 9 and 10 images will, I assume, follow in due course.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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ittiz

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I have taken his images added color channels and got them be in color. The major problem is only small portions of those images actually have color and the images I altered's color is based on the small portion that did have color. . I'm sure his are copy write so I can't distrubute my color versions.
 
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JonClarke

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My understanding is that full colour panoramas were obtained by Veneras 13 and 14.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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ittiz

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There was, but if you look at the images obtained you can see there is a lot of color info missing. Especially near the horizon.
 
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JonClarke

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Some colour info is missing, not a lot. Given the almost monchromatic nature of the rocks, the uniform illumination, the availability of the full sky spectrum for venera 13, and the extensive colour information (95% of the scene, as shown below with downsized original colour image from Don Mitchell's site) already available it should be possible to colour in the missing area with high fidelity.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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3488

Guest
Hi there.<br /><br />I hope we get to see the views facing the other way too.<br /><br />I understood that Veneras 13 & 14 took colour mug shots, but with most colour pictures, definition can be lost, hence that is why Don Mitchell may not have included them.<br /><br />I also hope we get to see the Veneras 9 & 10 panoramas re-vamped too.<br /><br />I think I was quite successful in being able to bring out some layering in 13's image. <br /><br />Difficult lighting conditions, as of course it was diffuse sunlight (cloudy conditions, like on Earth at times & on Titan) not direct (as on the Moon & Mars).<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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I hope so too. As far as I know this is Don's hobby, so we may need to be patient. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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