Check out this astonishingly beautiful optical effect — this rainbow - similar feature of speech , called a “ glory , ” was recently captured by Europe ’s Venus Express orbiter . This is the first time the phenomenon , which also fall out on Earth , has been imaged on another satellite .
Top image : imitation purview of a resplendence on Venus ( left ) and Earth ( right ) . deferred payment : C. Wilson / P. Laven .
A gloriole happens when sunlight shines on cloud droplets . Here on Earth that means water particles — but on Venus , that signify sulphuric Zen .
quotation : Earth Science Picture of the Day / Raquel Yumi Shida .
Unlike rainbows , which extend across broad arcs in the sky , glories are small , comprising a series of colored concentric rings centered on a undimmed core . to see one , an commentator must be situated between the sun and the swarm speck . This is why they ’re often picture from airplanes or by plenty climbing iron above the cloud - line .
The Venus Express satellite captured the image of a glory from a meridian of 44 naut mi ( 70 km ) above the planet ’s control surface .
The glory is about 745 mi ( 1,200 kilometer ) astray . These observations suggest that the cloud corpuscle are 1.2 micrometers across , which is one - fiftieth the width of a human hair .
The fact that the glory is so wide point that the particle are jolly unvarying . And the variation in luminosity suggest that other chemicals are in all likelihood involved .
[ ESA ]
AstronomyRainbowsScienceSpace
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , deliver to your present .
You May Also Like
