Beta Regio is a region of the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

known as a ''volcanic rise''. Measuring about in extent, it constitutes a prominent upland region of Venus centered at . The first features that showed up in early radar surveys of the planet were given the names of letters of the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...

. Beta Regio was one of those features. It was discovered and named by Dick Goldstein in 1964. The name was approved by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) between 1976 and 1979.

Maxwell Montes Maxwell Montes is a mountain range on the planet Venus, of which Skadi Mons is the List of tallest mountains in the Solar System, highest. General description Located on Ishtar Terra, the more northern of the planet's two major highlands, Ma ...

, Alpha Regio, and Beta Regio are the three exceptions to the rule that the surface features of Venus are to be named for

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

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es. Volcanic rises are broad, sloping highlands over across. They are cut by deep troughs across. These troughs are an example of continental rifting, and are evidence of surface

tectonism Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

. Beta Regio is cut by a radar-bright north–south trough called Devana Chasma. The northern end has a volcano called Rhea Mons, and the southern end is dominated by a volcano titled Theia Mons.

References

{{Venus Surface features of Venus