NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

About this Image

This is a radar image of Maxwell Montes, a mountain range on the planet Venus, that was made by transmitting a signal at 13 cm wavelength from Arecibo and using the GBT to detect the reflection off the surface. This mountain range contains the highest point on Venus, peaking at 11 km. The mountains reflect radio waves better, thus appear brighter, than the surrounding terrain. This increase in reflectivity at high altitudes occurs at other high areas on Venus is not well understood. The circular feature in the bottom center is a 100 km wide impact crater.

Investigator(s):  Donald Campbell, Jean-Luc Margot, Lynn Carter, and Bruce Campbell

Alternate Resolutions

Help

This image is available in the following downloadable versions:

• 577 x 482 B&W radar image (JPEG)

If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

• Read the Press Release
• Read the NRAO Newsletter article
• Up one level for more info on Planets
• For unfamiliar terms, visit the NRAO Radio Astronomy Glossary

Technical Data

Telescope	ALMA
Date of Observation	2001-00-00
Type of Observation	Unknown
Technical Caption	The resolution of this image is about 1 km.

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