When Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft closed in on Venus seven years ago, its main engine failed and with no way of slowing down, the spacecraft overshot the planet and barreled into orbit around the Sun.
The mission, meant to study the dynamics of the planet’s perpetual cloud cover and hellishly hot surface, was feared lost. But failed engine aside, the spacecraft was in good working order. So five years later, when its path neared Venus, engineers used a separate set of thrusters to slow Akatsuki into an elliptical orbit around the planet.
The spacecraft is now snapping photos in ultraviolet and infrared light, revealing unprecedented details of the dynamic weather patterns on Venus. The Japanese space agency JAXA places the pictures online for public viewing, and French illustrator Damia Bouic recently processed some of the best into the dramatic photographs you see here and on her blog.
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