The white and red spots are places where the clouds are thinnest. Magellan is launched from the space shuttle Atlantis in may 1989. The main antenna is at top. The solar panels are still folded from the shuttle trip to low Earth orbit. The colors from highest to lowest altitudes are red, yellow, green, light blue, and dark blue.
Gray areas show the gaps in Magellan 's coverage.
In this cylindrical projection, the right and left edges are at 240 degrees east longitude. The bright area in the upper left is Maxwell Montes. Extending along the equator to right of center is Aphrodite Terra. Maat Mons, towering twenty-five thousand feet above the plains, is the largest volcano on Venus. Fresh looking lava flows can be seen extending hundreds of miles down the flanks and onto the surrounding plains.