Venus Earth's Sister Planet
September 12th 2007 09:11
Planet Venus often referred to as the evening and morning “star” Earth’s sister planet. The diameter of Venus is 12,104 kilometres slightly less than Earth’s. The planet graces the morning and evening sky and it is a magnificent planet to look at but you wouldn’t want to live there. Venus is covered by a dense unbroken shell of clouds, composed mainly of sulphuric acid and carbon dioxide gas reflecting back an enormous amount of light.
Even under the most favourable viewing conditions, through a telescope Venus appears almost featureless and not very interesting to study. At certain seasonal times you can observe the cloud wisps appear brighter than the rest of the crescent, and a narrow strip along its entire limb appears brighter when the planet is in the crescent phase.
Venus rotates very slowly once every 243 days (Earth does this once every 24 hours).
Venus is perhaps the deadliest planet in the solar system. The atmospheric pressure would crush you, if your weight was say 80 kg on Earth, you would weigh 90 times as much on Venus. The cloud cover pushing down on you would be like 2 kms beneath the ocean. There are more dense clouds layers of sulfuric acid to contend with not to mention the scorching heat that can reach 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Venues is bright and easily seen by the naked eye and does not posses a Moon.
Venus is the most commonly reported object and mistaken for a UFO Police and the military get hundreds of calls from the public that they are required to sift through. A lot of people actually claim they can see the object moving around, backwards and forwards in the sky a factor due to an optical illusion. The planet’s surface cannot be seen from Earth based telescopes and even space probes sent to the planet show Venus covered in thick cloud. A few probes have sent pictures of the planet after landing on the surface but after landing they only operational for a few hours and then are fall silent due to the extreme conditions on the surface.The best images obtained so far are form radar images space craft like orbiting Venus.
A portion of western Eistla Regio is displayed in this three- dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 1,310 kilometers (812 miles) southwest of Gula Mons at an elevation of 0.78 kilometer (0.48 mile). The view is to the northeast with Gula Mons appearing on the horizon. Gula Mons, a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) high volcano, is located at approximately 22 degrees north latitude, 359 degrees east longitude. The impact crater Cunitz, named for the astronomer and mathematician Maria Cunitz, is visible in the center of the image. The crater is 48.5 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter and is 215 kilometers (133 miles) from the viewer's position. Magellan synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. Rays cast in a computer intersect the surface to create a three- dimensional perspective view. Simulated color and a digital elevation map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, are used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. The image was produced at the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and is a single frame from a video released at the March 5, 1991
The southern scarp and basin province of western Ishtar Terra are portrayed in this three dimensional perspective view. Western Ishtar Terra is about the size of Australia and is a major focus of Magellan investigations. The highland terrain is centered on a 2.5 km to 4 km high (1.5 mi to 2.5 mi high) plateau called Lakshmi Planum which can be seen in the distance at the right. Here the surface of the plateau drops precipitously into the bounding lowlands, with steep slopes that exceed 5% over 50 km (30 mi).
images/captions NASA/JPL
Even under the most favourable viewing conditions, through a telescope Venus appears almost featureless and not very interesting to study. At certain seasonal times you can observe the cloud wisps appear brighter than the rest of the crescent, and a narrow strip along its entire limb appears brighter when the planet is in the crescent phase.
Image of Venus taken in 1974 by Mariner 10
Venus is perhaps the deadliest planet in the solar system. The atmospheric pressure would crush you, if your weight was say 80 kg on Earth, you would weigh 90 times as much on Venus. The cloud cover pushing down on you would be like 2 kms beneath the ocean. There are more dense clouds layers of sulfuric acid to contend with not to mention the scorching heat that can reach 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Venues is bright and easily seen by the naked eye and does not posses a Moon.
First colour image take of the surface of Venus by the Russian spacecraft Venera 13
Venus is the most commonly reported object and mistaken for a UFO Police and the military get hundreds of calls from the public that they are required to sift through. A lot of people actually claim they can see the object moving around, backwards and forwards in the sky a factor due to an optical illusion. The planet’s surface cannot be seen from Earth based telescopes and even space probes sent to the planet show Venus covered in thick cloud. A few probes have sent pictures of the planet after landing on the surface but after landing they only operational for a few hours and then are fall silent due to the extreme conditions on the surface.The best images obtained so far are form radar images space craft like orbiting Venus.
Gula Mons, a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) high volcano
A portion of western Eistla Regio is displayed in this three- dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 1,310 kilometers (812 miles) southwest of Gula Mons at an elevation of 0.78 kilometer (0.48 mile). The view is to the northeast with Gula Mons appearing on the horizon. Gula Mons, a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) high volcano, is located at approximately 22 degrees north latitude, 359 degrees east longitude. The impact crater Cunitz, named for the astronomer and mathematician Maria Cunitz, is visible in the center of the image. The crater is 48.5 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter and is 215 kilometers (133 miles) from the viewer's position. Magellan synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. Rays cast in a computer intersect the surface to create a three- dimensional perspective view. Simulated color and a digital elevation map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, are used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. The image was produced at the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and is a single frame from a video released at the March 5, 1991
The southern scarp and basin province of western Ishtar
The southern scarp and basin province of western Ishtar Terra are portrayed in this three dimensional perspective view. Western Ishtar Terra is about the size of Australia and is a major focus of Magellan investigations. The highland terrain is centered on a 2.5 km to 4 km high (1.5 mi to 2.5 mi high) plateau called Lakshmi Planum which can be seen in the distance at the right. Here the surface of the plateau drops precipitously into the bounding lowlands, with steep slopes that exceed 5% over 50 km (30 mi).
images/captions NASA/JPL
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Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
This is the 'star' that we dedicated to someone who has passed a long time ago.... it certainly stands out in the night sky.
Some fascinating info you present here.... not somewhere you would put on your list of "Let me visit' that`s for sure
Ash
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Thank you for the comment. A beautiful jewl in the night /morning sky but a hellish place to be in.
I aways look forward to seeing Venus in the night sky but it I will have to wait 8 months untill we see it as the evening "star" unless I get up at and have a look at 5 A.M. (I am not a morning person)
Cheers
Carl