       APOD: 2018 January 30 - Venus at Night in Infrared from Akatsuki

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2018 January 30
                                      [2]
                   Venus at Night in Infrared from Akatsuki
 Image Credit: JAXA [3] , ISAS [4] , DARTS [5] ; Processing & Copyright: Damia
                                  Bouic [6]

Explanation: Why is Venus so different from Earth? To help find out, Japan [7]
 launched the robotic Akatsuki [8]  spacecraft which entered orbit [9]  around
Venus late in 2015 after an unplanned five-year adventure around the inner
Solar System [10] . Even though Akatsuki [11]  was past its original planned
lifetime, the spacecraft and instruments were operating so well that much of
its original mission was reinstated [12] . Also known as the Venus [13]
Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki's [14] instruments investigated unknowns [15]  about
Earth's sister planet, including whether volcanoes [16]  are still active,
whether lightning occurs in the dense atmosphere, and why wind speeds greatly
exceed [17]  the planet's rotation speed. In the featured image [18]  taken by
Akatsuki [19] 's IR2 camera, Venus's night side shows a jagged-edged
equatorial band of high dark clouds absorbing infrared light from hotter
layers deeper in Venus' atmosphere [20] . The bright orange and black stripe
on the upper right is a false digital artifact [21]  that covers part of the
much brighter day side of Venus [22] . Analyses of Akatsuki images [23] and
data has shown that Venus has equatorial jet [24]  similar to Earth's jet
stream [25] .

                        Watch: Lunar Extravaganza [26]
                  Tomorrow's picture: The First Explorer [27]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1801/VenusNight_AkatsukiBouic_739.jpg
  [3] http://global.jaxa.jp/about/jaxa/index.html
  [4] http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
  [5] https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/
  [6]
http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-imaging/profiles/
damia-bouic.html
  [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan
  [8] http://global.jaxa.jp/article/2016/interview/vol95/index.html
  [9] http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2015/02/20150206_akatsuki.html
  [10] http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/
  [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_(spacecraft)
  [12]
http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/17/
japanese-orbiter-officially-begins-science-mission-at-venus/
  [13] http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/indepth
  [14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsDj-KJe65s
  [15] http://www.gapphotos.com/images/WebPreview/0100/0100358.jpg
  [16] ap950928.html
  [17] http://phys.org/news/2010-05-theory-superrotation-venus.html
  [18]
http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/venus/
venus-in-infrared-from-akatsuki-2.html
  [19] http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/akatsuki
  [20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#Atmosphere_and_climate
  [21] ap010415.html
  [22] venus.html
  [23] https://darts.jaxa.jp/planet/project/akatsuki/
  [24] http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/topics.html#topics10633
  [25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_stream
  [26] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ super-blue-blood-moon-coming-jan-31
  [27] ap180131.html
  [28] ap180129.html
  [29] archivepix.html
  [30] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [31] lib/aptree.html
  [32] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [33] calendar/allyears.html
  [34] /apod.rss
  [35] lib/edlinks.html
  [36] lib/about_apod.html
  [37] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180130
  [38] ap180131.html
  [39] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [40] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [41] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [42] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [43] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [44] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [45] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [46] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [47] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [48] http://www.mtu.edu/
