- Attachment: Venus image
- 3/4th of the sunlight that hits the Venus atmosphere bounces back before ever reaching the surface. Only 1/4th of the sunlight warms the surface. If a calculation is made of what the surface temperature should be with that amount of sunlight it would be -40 C. However, Venus has carbon dioxide greenhouse gas that captures the heat that reaches the surface re-reflecting light back to the surface again. The effect is a runaway temperature rise that increases surface temperatures by 500 degrees. The average temperature on the surface is 460 C. Venus has the highest surface temperature and the highest atmospheric pressure of any of the planets.
- Venus is also the slowest spinning planet, taking 243 days to make one rotation. And, the rotation direction is reversed so the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east. In fact, a Venus year (225 days) is shorter than a Venus day ( 243 days) when measured against the distant stars. The time for one sunrise on Venus to the next sunrise is 116.75 days. Exactly 5 solar days on Venus, 584 days , is when Venus points to the same direction relative to the stars.
-. A person could walk faster around the planet than the planet is turning. By comparison Earth circumference is 24,900 miles, it rotates in 24 hours, so the speed at the equator is 1,000 miles per hour traveling east.
- The atmosphere is thick and 60 miles deep. The lower atmosphere is carbon dioxide and the upper atmosphere is concentrated sulfuric acid. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is 90 times greater than on Earth.
- There are no tectonic movements on Venus. It’s surface has remained unchanged for at least 500,000,000 years. The lightning strikes are believed to be at 100 flashes a second. Surprisingly, this is about the same global average for the Earth.
- The Earth releases its internal heat through volcanic action and tectonic movements of the surface plates. Venus does not have this method of releasing core heat. It appears to be insulated by one large, solid lid. It could mean that the lid blows once every 500,000,000 years and completely resurfaces the planet. Spacecraft have detected 9 hot spots, or subsurface mantle plumes, but, there is no associated lava flows.
- At the poles the thick atmosphere shrinks from 60 miles to 40 miles and swirling clouds create mysterious vortexes at the poles. The vortexes swirl around a 2 mile wide hole in the atmosphere. The clouds resemble an Earth hurricane except they are much larger, about the size of Europe. And, the vortex stays fixed year around. The clouds circling the planet are moving at 336 miles per hour. They will completely circle the planet in 4 Earth days. Remember the Venus day is 243 Earth days long. The wind is much faster than the rotation? Why is that? An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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(1) to learn more visit: www.esa.int/esaMI/Venus-Express
(2) I have 4 more reviews written on Venus, #587, #817, #945, and # 1176
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
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707-536-3272, Thursday, January 5, 2012
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