By Ron Cowen
Astronomers have unveiled the first X-ray image of Venus, one of Earth’s closest neighbors. The observations, taken by the Earth-orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory and released last week, may provide new information about the atmosphere of the cloud-covered planet.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/12/830.jpg?resize=150%2C139&ssl=1)
Venus doesn’t have its own source of X rays. Rather, X rays from the sun induce the Venusian emissions when they bombard the planet’s upper atmosphere and are absorbed by ionized atoms. The atoms reemit the incoming radiation at a lower X-ray energy, a process known as fluorescence.