A set of images of the Venus south polar vortex in infrared light (at 3.8 microns) acquired by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument on ESA's Venus Express spacecraft. The images show the temperature of the cloud tops at about 65 km (40.4 miles) altitude. A darker region corresponds to higher temperature and thus lower altitude. The center of the vortex, at a temperature of about 250K (around minus 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit), is the deepest zone, exhibiting the highest temperature. Credit: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA