2008 February 26
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Mysterious Acid Haze on Venus
Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

지난 7월 유럽우주국의 금성탐사선에 의해 발견된 금성의 안개입니다. 수증기와 이산화황이 결합된 황산을 포함하고 있다고 합니다.

Explanation:
Why did an acidic haze spread across Venus? The unusual clouds were discovered last July by ESA's robotic Venus Express spacecraft currently orbiting Venus. The bright and smooth haze was found by Venus Express to be rich in sulfuric acid, created when an unknown process lifted water vapor and sulphur dioxide from lower levels into Venus' upper atmosphere. There, sunlight broke these molecules apart and some of them recombined into the volatile sulfuric acid. Over the course of just a few days last July, the smooth acidic clouds spread from the South Pole of Venus across half the planet. The above false-color picture of Venus was taken last July 23rd in ultraviolet light, and shows the unusual haze as relatively smooth regions across the image bottom. The cause of the dark streaks in the clouds is also not yet understood and is being researched