The large equatorial highland on Venus named after the Greek goddess of love is Aphrodite Terra.
Aphrodite Terra is one of Venus’s major elevated continental regions and the largest of the planet’s terrae. Its name refers to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess whose Roman counterpart is Venus, the planet’s namesake. The feature lies near the equator and stretches roughly 10,000 kilometers across the surface.
The region includes prominent areas such as Ovda Regio and Thetis Regio. Radar observations show deep rift valleys, fractured highlands, lava flows, and mountain ranges. Because Venus is hidden beneath dense clouds, much of what scientists know about Aphrodite Terra comes from spacecraft radar rather than ordinary visible-light photography.
A common mix-up is Ishtar Terra, another major Venusian highland. Ishtar Terra lies in the north and is associated with Maxwell Montes, Venus’s highest mountain range; Lada Terra is a separate southern highland. Aphrodite Terra is also the namesake of a region studied by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter in observations of Venus’s atmosphere.