Venus - 3-D Perspective View of Idem-Kuva

A corona is displayed in this computer-simulated view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of Gula Mons at a height of 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) above the corona. The corona has a diameter of 97 kilometers (60 miles). The proposed name for the corona is Idem-Kuva, a Finno-Ugraic harvest spirit. Lava flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains shown in the background. The viewpoint is to the north with Gula Mons to the south. Magellan synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to produce a three-dimensional map of the surface. Rays cast in a computer intersect the surface to create a three-dimensional perspective view. Simulated color and a digital elevation map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey are used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 124 spacecraft. The image was produced at the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and is a single frame from a video released at a March 5, 1991, JPL news conference.