The puzzling 'eye of a hurricane' on Venus

This image, of the "eye of the hurricane" on Venus was taken by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board Venus Express. This picture shows a region in the venusian atmosphere about 60 km from the surface, at a wavelength of about 5 micrometres. In this figure, the dipole assumes an eye-like shape and from here until the last image, it is possible to see how its shape evolves rapidly evolves in a span of only 24 hours. The yellow dot in the image indicates the location of the south pole. Credit: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA/Univ. of Oxford