This composite image of the cloud-covered planet Venus uses data from the Japanese probe Akatsuki. (Credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Something mysterious
swirls amidst the clouds of Venus.

The planet’s hot, harsh
atmosphere is thick with carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. Atmospheric gases
circulate amid cloud layers according to patterns that scientists don’t fully
understand. And Venusian clouds also contain strange, dark patches, c