Venus Gravity Wave Discovered, The Largest Ever Observed In The Solar System

The gravity wave in the atmosphere of Venus that has been observed is considered the largest ever recorded. It was tracked by a Japanese spacecraft referred to as the Japanese probe Akatsuki in 2015.

The findings of the discovery were printed in the Nature Geoscience journal. This discovery indicates that the dynamics of Venus' atmosphere are more complex than previously thought. It stretched to more than 6,000 miles from end to end.

The researchers stated that the present study shows direct evidence of the existence of stationary gravity waves. Also, it further shows that such stationary gravity waves can have a very large scale -- perhaps the greatest -- ever observed in the Solar System.

A Japanese spacecraft has spotted a massive gravity wave in Venus’ atmosphere https://t.co/dRihhv3VDP pic.twitter.com/wAIMLg2W5g

— The Verge (@verge) January 16, 2017

BBC reports that the Japanese spacecraft was launched in May 2010. It orbited the planet Venus in December 2015. The spacecraft then observed a bow-shaped feature in the upper atmosphere for several days. The bright structure that stretched for 10,000 km has stayed at the height of Venus' cloud tops, in which its clouds smudge at 100 meters per second. The clouds also travel much faster than the rotating planet below. The planet rotates slowly that a day on Venus could last longer than a year there.

Meanwhile, Dr. Colin Wilson, a planetary scientist at the University of Oxford, said that this feature cannot be visible on Jupiter because the planet's fast rotation means the atmosphere is broken up into belts. He further said that Venus' slow rotation lets one have a whole feature like this.

The Japanese spacecraft utilized the infrared and ultraviolet cameras to take images of the giant wave of Venus. The core of the wave was just above the western slope of the Aphrodite Terra highlands, according to The Guardian.