The science of spin: Venus' double vortex raises new mystery

PARIS (AFP) - The European Space Agency's new mission to Venus has discovered that the planet has a bizarre double vortex which whirls in the atmosphere above its south pole, ESA said.

The "double eye", formed by winds of super-hurricane force, was spotted by the unmanned Venus Express spacecraft in its very first swing around Venus, it said Tuesday.

Previous missions to Venus have spotted a similar structure over its north pole and glimpsed at stormy atmospheric behaviour at the south pole.

The winds on Venus spin westwards at hundreds of kilometers (miles) per hour, taking only four days to complete the rotation of a planet that is just under the size of Earth.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060627/sc_afp/spacevenus_...

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYGQEFWOE_index_0.html