Akatsuki Orbiter Photographs Giant Atmospheric Gravity Wave in Upper Cloud Layer of Venus

Japanese space probe Akatsuki Orbiter or Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) has captured the view of stunning and strange atmospheric phenomenon on the upper layer of its orbiting planet Venus. The space probe, during its close flyby, spotted a strange and giant gravity wave in the atmosphere of Venus which is expected to be the biggest-of-its-kind in the entire planetary System.

From the first sight, the giant ray looks like a massive ripple across the surface of Venus, and it is pretty much true too. The grand ripple is nothing other than the supermassive gravity wave, present in the upper layer of the planet’s atmosphere. The Japanese spaceship entered into the Venusian orbit in December 2015, and since then, the probe has kept on sending stunning details about the second planet of the solar system.

The strange feature, observed by Akatsuki spacecraft, is believed to be created in a generally comparable way to the outside ripples that shape as water pours over rocks on a watercourse bed. Like this manner, the gravitational wave is thought to outline as the lower atmosphere of Venus runs over mountains on the surface. The lower stream contributes to the rise of gravitational waves in the planet’s upper atmosphere.

The study reports, published in the celestial journal ‘Nature Geoscience’ suggested that the structure of the gravitational waves is remarkably dazzling. It is stretched for nearly 10,000km and remained motionless at the height of Venus’ cloud tops. The new finding now has made it difficult for the researchers to bring together with what we previously know about the thick upper atmosphere of Venus, in which clouds smudge by at 100 meters per second.

Previously, the thick layer of cloud blanket of Venus that spreads over 40 miles on top of the planet’s surface has engulfed the scientists to explore more about the neighbor of earth. But from the data collected by the Japanese Orbiter, it is confirmed that the thick layer on the surface of Venus, which previously believed to be made of only cloud, also houses a massive gravitational wave.

The image captured by Akatsuki Orbiter is likely to help astronomers to unknot some of the most engulfing enigmas of the second planet of solar system.