ESA Portal – Unexpected detail in first-ever Venus south pole images

As the ESA probe Venus Express approached it’s orbit with the neighboring planet, it snapped a few images. One of the few released thus far shows incredible detail even though it was taken from over 206 thousand kilometers away. I can’t wait to see the high resolution images that will be possible as the probe descends into a lower orbit. It will also be interesting to compare the results of this latest probe with those of NASA’s Magellan probe, whose mission ended in late 1994.