This picture shows the South Pole of Venus. It was taken in infrared light. The yellow area at the bottom is the daytime side of the planet which is lit by the Sun. The two "eyes" of the polar vortex are the red blobs near the pole (at the center of the picture).
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA.
The Polar Atmosphere of Venus
A vortex is a swirling, circular movement of air and clouds... like in a tornado or hurricane. The plural form of vortex is "vortices". The planet Venus has vortices in its atmosphere above each of its poles.
Some other planets have polar vortices too. A polar vortex forms in the winter at each pole on Earth. Saturn also has polar vortices. The polar vortices on Venus are strange. Each polar vortex has two "eyes" that the winds and clouds swirl around. The vortices on Venus are double vortices. Scientists don't really know why the vortices on Venus have two "eyes".
Sometimes large, bright clouds form over the poles of Venus. They often form and go away pretty quickly. These clouds reflect a lot of sunlight back into space. They make Venus look much brighter. Scientists think the vortices "stir up" the atmosphere. Maybe that mixing makes the clouds.
The atmosphere on Venus is very thick and very, very hot. The thick atmosphere spreads the heat around. On Earth, the North Pole and the South Pole are much colder than the equator. On Venus, it is just as hot at the poles as it is near the equator.
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