A DOUBLE-EYED hurricane over Venus鈥檚 south pole is turning out to be even more complex than first thought. Identifying the forces that shape it could help unlock the secrets of the planet鈥檚 thick atmosphere, whose runaway greenhouse effect keeps Venus scaldingly hot.
The vortex is thought to be a product of super-strong winds that tear westward around the planet. What is not understood yet is why the winds produce a double vortex, not a single one.
鈥淲e are building a true 3D view of the vortex,鈥� says Giuseppe Piccioni of the Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmological Physics (IASF) in Rome, Italy, of images taken by the European Space Agency鈥檚 Venus Express spacecraft in April.
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