Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Venus

Venus

Original - Mosaic of Venus; a global view centered at 180 degrees east longitude. Magellan synthetic aperture radar mosaics from the first cycle of Magellan mapping are mapped onto a computer-simulated globe to create this image. Data gaps are filled with Pioneer Venus Orbiter data, or a constant mid-range value. (Fake color is used to enhance small-scale structure.)

Reason: Good resolution, very high detail. It's the best we can get for a mosaic, especially of Venus, since it's covered in clouds almost every day of the earth year.
Articles this image appears in: Geology of Venus, Synthetic aperture radar, List of artificial objects on extra-terrestrial surfaces, List of artificial objects on Venus.
Creator: JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory

Support as nominator --— Ceranthor (Sing) 12:18, 1 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Stunning image, exceptional EV. Nice that it's high resolution. Coupled with the fact that it's a mosaic image that still manages to capture the planet in such excellent detail, I'd say this is FP quality. Elucidate ^{(parlez à moi)} Ici pour humor 15:11, 1 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support I'm a little concerned about the lack of data and grey gradient at the bottom (south) of the image. If this is the absolute best that can currently be obtained, though, so be it.--HereToHelp ^{(talk to me)} 17:17, 1 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment just for the sake of accuracy: this image is included in the template {{dune-stub}}, meaning most of its image links are actually tiny and not particularly encyclopedic. Real uses are in Geology of Venus, List of artificial objects on Venus, and Synthetic aperture radar. It is not currently used in Venus. Separately, could someone clarify in plain English what exactly we're looking at? Based on the article synthetic aperture radar, it seems like this image is best described as a sort of extremely detailed radar-based map, rather than an image of the surface, which is of course unobtainable. That's not necessarily a reason not to feature it, but I just want to be clear on what it actually is. Thanks. Chick Bowen 22:18, 1 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I totally agree with Chick Bowen's opinion, so removed the articles that do not have direct relevance of the image. Morever, It would be more wonderful if the picture did not have the artificial hues on the bottom. (it looks like a patchwork)--Caspian blue 00:31, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry caspian, but if I could have cropped that out I would have long ago. This is an extremely rare mosaic of Venus that we're probably never going to get again. As for Chick's question, it's a mosaic of Venus, itself, made from data collected by radar data (see the description). Ceran →(sing→see →scribe) 13:22, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I was hoping you'd clarify the description. The article on SAR is not entirely clear on how you get from the radar data to the image. The color, for example, is a complete fiction, right? The images in the SAR article are colored according to non-visual criteria, like this one. I gather that in the case of the Venus image, NASA has taken something similar to that Death Valley image and colored it red. Is this right? Chick Bowen 03:02, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft" says NASA, so the colours aren't entirely fake. Narayanese (talk) 05:12, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support —αἰτίας •discussion• 01:51, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Awesome! --Janke | Talk 12:57, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
SupportRyan shell (talk) 19:26, 5 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support — That messy bit on the bottom is a tad distracting, but it seems to be the best there is. Looks great otherwise. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 15:29, 6 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Yeah the bit on the bottom is kinda weird... but hey... it looks like it's the best we've got... unless you guys got a friend who works @ JPL... :D - Jameson L. Tai ^{talk ♦ guestbook ♦ contribs} 15:33, 6 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Venus globe.jpg MER-C 03:02, 9 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]