Alpha Regio

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Alpha Regio

The first feature identified on Venus using Earth-based radar (it was discovered in 1963). It is a highland plateau about 1300 km across situated in the southern hemisphere of the planet (centered on the Venusian coordinates 25° S latitude, 4° E longitude). It exhibits multiple sets of intersecting ridges, troughs, and flat-floored fault valleys that together form a polygonal outline. Directly south of the complex ridged terrain is a large oval-shaped feature named Eve. A radar bright spot within Eve marks the location of the prime meridian of Venus.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

References in periodicals archive ?

The new map shows that the rocks on the Phoebe and Alpha Regio plateaus are lighter in colour and look old compared to the majority of the planet.

Venus may once have been more Earth-like

Three exceptions, already in wide use, were retained: Alpha Regio, Beta Regio, and Maxwell Montes (honoring physicist James Clerk Maxwell).

Venus: the name game

In a region near Alpha Regio, 30[degrees] south of Venus' equator, the orbiter detected seven flattened domes up to 30 kilometers in diameter and rising nearly a kilometer in height.

Venus: surprising features sculpted in lava

One major tessera region is called Alpha Regio -- so named because it was the first feature on Venus's surface detected by radar from Earth.