The Acid Mist of Venus
June 25th 2008 06:58
Venus’s atmosphere, taken by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) view shows a large haze cloud over the southern hemisphere
Recently the European Space Agency’s space craft Venus Express recorded a bright haze coming from the planet’s southern hemisphere. The haze persisted for several days before disappearing.
This image taken several days later shows the haze cloud(smog) has shifted in position and size
Venus’s atmosphere is a volatile environment with blistering heat and a corrosive tendency.
The planet is a giant green house the surface cannot be seen without penetrating the thick cloud layers.
The probable cause for the haze formation is due to the mixing of sulphur dioxide and water causing the gas to form above the carbon dioxide rich atmosphere. The process is similar to what happens here on Earth with urban smog over cities. A day on Venus lasts about 120 Earth days, the Sun remains in one spot over the equator for weeks raising the temperature to around 500 degrees C.
The Sun’s energy hardly reaches the surface of Venus most of the energy is absorbed by the thick cloud cover surrounding the planet surface. The Atmosphere of Venus has a greenish glow which can be seen on the daytime side of the planet, there is a faint glow produced on the night side as well. There is also an abundance of lighting on Venus.
Image Credit: ESA/ MPS/DLR/IDA
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Comment by Wilson Pon
Techno Stuffs
By the way, nice pictures here, Carl.
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Thank you for the comment.
There is not much we can do for planet Venus but there is a lot we can do for our planet to prevent this from happening.