learned that the equatorial areas on
Venus that appear dark in ultraviolet light are regions of relatively high temperature, where intense
convection brings up dark material from below. In contrast, the bright regions at mid-
latitudes are areas where the temperature in the
atmosphere decreases with depth. The temperature reaches a minimum at the cloud tops suppressing vertical mixing. This
annulus of cold air, nicknamed the ‘cold collar’, appears as a bright band in the
ultraviolet images. Photo credit:
ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA,
Source: Minsex
Minsex: Venus Monitoring Camera image taken in the ultraviolet (0.365 micrometres), from a distance of about 30,000 km. It shows numerous high-contrast features, caused by an unknown chemical in the clouds that absorbsultraviolet light, creating the bright and dark zones. With data from Venus Express, scientists have 
