Introduction
Venus is often referred to as Earth's sister. The planet is a similar size to our own, but here the resemblance ends. For an astronaut, Venus is bigger nightmare than the most frightening science- fiction story. The temperature on the surface is nearly 500oC(930oF), the air is dense enough to crush a human in seconds, and the atmosphere consists partly of acid.
Exploring Venus
When early scientists looked at Venus through their telescopes, they believed the light and dark areas they saw to be oceans and continents not unlike those on Earth. However, their astronomical followers were bitterly dissapointed to discover that these patches were not the surface of Venus at all but a layer of cloud 30km thick. only in the last 30 years have scientists been able to view the surface of Venus using space probes. This is a difficult procedure because of Venus' atmosphere. the Russian lander probe Venera 13 lasted just over 2 hours on the surface before hostile conditions on the planet destroyed it.
Killer Planet
The atmosphere of Venus makes it a suffocating and hostile world. A process called the greenhouse effect means that the thick layer of cloud surrounding the planet traps heat inside the atmosphere. Because of this, the surface of Venus can rise to temperatures as high as 464. The cloud contain sulphuric acid, which is released by volcanic eruptions. the pressure on the planet's surface is 100 times that of Earth. tis is dense enough to crush a deep sea submarine!
Volcanic surface
If we look past the clouds, we can see that Venus is a planet once ruled by volcanoes. There are at least 160 that are larger than 100km in diameter and over 50,000 smaller ones. Unlike the Earth, where heat under the crust can be vented in short bursts through volcanoes across the planet, on Venus the heat builds up the surface for millions of years, unable to find a vent. It becomes so hot under the planet's skin that eventually the heat bursts out in an enormous worldwide eruption, swamping the entire planet in molten lava. However, there is no evidence to show that the planet is still active today.
(click here to get the image)
Some important facts
1) The fly-by space probe magellan (above) used radar technology to peer the thick clouds and map 98% of Venus' surface.
2) Before it was crushed by Venus' atmosphere, the space probe Venera 13 took the first cloud pictures of the planet. Before this, the first probe to land on Venus, Venera 7, had sent back data about the planet, and a second probe, Venera 9, had sent back black and white images of the planet's surface.
3) The right hand side of the image below shows what venus looks like to the naked eye. The left hand side shows what the surface of the planet looks like after radar mapping.
4) Because Venus was the Roman goddess of love, astronomers have named many of the planet's features after famous women. These include many heroines from cultures around the world, and even writers such as Agatha Christie!
Facts and Figures
Diameter: 12,100km
Distance from sun : 108 million km
Surface temperature: 480oC (980oF)
Surface gravity: 0.9 x Earth
Length of orbit: 225 Earth days
Length of day: 5,832 Earth hours
Mass: 0.815 x Earth
Density(water=1): 5.25
Number of moons: 0
Number of rings: 0
Venus is often referred to as Earth's sister. The planet is a similar size to our own, but here the resemblance ends. For an astronaut, Venus is bigger nightmare than the most frightening science- fiction story. The temperature on the surface is nearly 500oC(930oF), the air is dense enough to crush a human in seconds, and the atmosphere consists partly of acid.
Exploring Venus
When early scientists looked at Venus through their telescopes, they believed the light and dark areas they saw to be oceans and continents not unlike those on Earth. However, their astronomical followers were bitterly dissapointed to discover that these patches were not the surface of Venus at all but a layer of cloud 30km thick. only in the last 30 years have scientists been able to view the surface of Venus using space probes. This is a difficult procedure because of Venus' atmosphere. the Russian lander probe Venera 13 lasted just over 2 hours on the surface before hostile conditions on the planet destroyed it.
Killer Planet
The atmosphere of Venus makes it a suffocating and hostile world. A process called the greenhouse effect means that the thick layer of cloud surrounding the planet traps heat inside the atmosphere. Because of this, the surface of Venus can rise to temperatures as high as 464. The cloud contain sulphuric acid, which is released by volcanic eruptions. the pressure on the planet's surface is 100 times that of Earth. tis is dense enough to crush a deep sea submarine!
Volcanic surface
If we look past the clouds, we can see that Venus is a planet once ruled by volcanoes. There are at least 160 that are larger than 100km in diameter and over 50,000 smaller ones. Unlike the Earth, where heat under the crust can be vented in short bursts through volcanoes across the planet, on Venus the heat builds up the surface for millions of years, unable to find a vent. It becomes so hot under the planet's skin that eventually the heat bursts out in an enormous worldwide eruption, swamping the entire planet in molten lava. However, there is no evidence to show that the planet is still active today.
(click here to get the image)
Some important facts
1) The fly-by space probe magellan (above) used radar technology to peer the thick clouds and map 98% of Venus' surface.
2) Before it was crushed by Venus' atmosphere, the space probe Venera 13 took the first cloud pictures of the planet. Before this, the first probe to land on Venus, Venera 7, had sent back data about the planet, and a second probe, Venera 9, had sent back black and white images of the planet's surface.
3) The right hand side of the image below shows what venus looks like to the naked eye. The left hand side shows what the surface of the planet looks like after radar mapping.
4) Because Venus was the Roman goddess of love, astronomers have named many of the planet's features after famous women. These include many heroines from cultures around the world, and even writers such as Agatha Christie!
Facts and Figures
Diameter: 12,100km
Distance from sun : 108 million km
Surface temperature: 480oC (980oF)
Surface gravity: 0.9 x Earth
Length of orbit: 225 Earth days
Length of day: 5,832 Earth hours
Mass: 0.815 x Earth
Density(water=1): 5.25
Number of moons: 0
Number of rings: 0
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