- 4059 - VENUS - our sister planet? - Our Sister Planet is a strange sister. Understanding her will teach us a lot about the evolution of our planets in the solar system. The one we live on may be the strangest of all.
--------------------- 4059 - VENUS - our sister planet
- I can remember my High School science class
studying the planets and calling Venus our Sister Planet because it was so
similar to our planet, Earth. It was a
little closer to the Sun so it should be hotter there:
-
----------------- Earth:
93 million miles
-
----------------- Venus:
67 million miles
-
- It was about the same size:
-
---------------- Earth diameter: 7,927 miles
-
---------------- Venus diameter: 7,518 miles
-
--------------- Earth mass:
6*10^24 kilograms
-
-------------- Venus mass:
5*10^24 kilograms
-
- Earth orbit’s the Sun in 365 days, Venus in
225 days.
-
- Venus was in constant cloud cover , so, we
can not see its surface. We had to use
our imagination to come up with what it was like on our Sister Planet. I remember it being a steamy jungle
constantly producing clouds above. A
swampy marsh land with strange insects and reptiles similar to Earth several
million years ago. Maybe even dinosaurs
still living there. Our imagination was way off the mark.
-
- Since April 11, 2006, the ESA, European
Space Agency, has had a spacecraft orbiting Venus, Venus Express. The data collected from this and other missions paints a far
different picture:
-
- The clouds are not water clouds, they are
sulfuric acid clouds. The atmosphere is
not like ours with nitrogen and oxygen but almost entirely carbon dioxide:
-
--------------- Earth:
77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen.
-
-------------- Venus:
96% carbon dioxide , 3% nitrogen
-
- There is no surface water on Venus. The atmosphere is so heavy with CO2 that the
air pressure is 90 times heavier than on Earth. 90 times 15 is 1,300 pounds per square inch
atmospheric pressure at the surface.
There are virtually no craters less that 1 mile in size on the surface
because smaller meteors would have burned up in the thick Venusians’
atmosphere.
-
- The rotation of Venus is backwards
compared to the other planets orbiting the Sun.
Its tilt is 177 degrees compared to Earth’s 23.5 degree tilt. On Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets
in the east. And, it is a long sunset
because the day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days.
-
- One of the latest discoveries is that Venus
has some active volcanoes. Radar images
show that Venus is covered with volcanoes.
Recent measurements using infrared wavelengths that can penetrate the
thick atmosphere have discovered hot volcanic lava flows. Venus is still, or recently, geologically
active.
-
- The biggest difference is in our Sister
Planet’s temperature. The surface is a
constant 870 F which is hot enough to melt lead. This is hotter than the planet Mercury which
is only 36 million miles from the Sun,
twice as close. The excessive
temperatures on Venus are caused by the green house gas, CO2, in the
atmosphere.
-
- The ultraviolet radiation from the Sun
penetrates the 37 mile thick atmosphere and heats the surface. The thermal radiation emitted in the infrared
wavelengths does not pass back through the CO2 blanket and is reflected back to
the surface. This positive feedback
heats the planet like an oven to where the entire planet’s temperature only
varies from 836 F to 890 F all year round.
-
- There were some mysteries uncovered with
this new data as well. Using ultraviolet
wavelength detectors measurements were made of the clouds that were 30 miles
high circling the equator every 4 days. This
is 50 times faster than the planet’s rotation.
What is powering these super winds?
-
- Using infrared wavelength detectors
measurements have imaged a giant double vortex at Venus’ South Pole. There is not clear understanding of the
structure of the Venusians’ atmosphere that creates this vortex with 2
eyes. These are not like hurricanes
because hurricanes are caused by moist air rising . These vortexes are low pressure zones at the
surface causing air to spiral downward from the upper atmosphere. What is causing this strange double vortex?
-
-
June 17, 2023 VENUS - our
sister planet
1176 4059
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Saturday, June 17, 2023 ---------------------------------
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