Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Volcanoes on Venus May Still Be Active

The colored overlay shows the emissivity derived from VIRTIS surface brightness data, acquired by ESA¹s Venus Express mission. The high emissivity area (shown in red and yellow) is centered on the summit and the bright flows that originate there. Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA; image created by Ryan Ollerenshaw and Eric DeJong of the Solar System Visualization Group, JPL.

Recent infrared data from an instrument on the Venus Express spacecraft indicate there could be active volcanism on Venus. “We are pretty sure that Venus still has volcanic activity,” said Joern Helbert and Nils Mueller from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, members of the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer(VIRTIS) team. Nine ‘hotspots’ on Venus’ southern hemisphere have been identified as possibly active, according to a paper published in Science by an international team.

Focusing on areas that showed a lack of surface weathering – which indicates a young surface — the scientists looked at variations in surface thermal emissions to identify compositional differences in lava flows at three specific hotspots. They found that lava flows at the those areas emit abnormally high amounts of heat when compared with their surroundings. That the temperatures are higher does not indicate “heat” as such from volcanism, but means that not much rock degradation by exposure to the harsh Venusian weather took place.

For planetary scientists, that indicates recent active volcanos. How recent?

“Based on a wide range of estimates for rates of volcanism on the surface, we find an upper bound of 250 years to 2.5 million years,” lead author Suzanne Smrekar from JPL told Universe Today in an email. “From predictions about how fast rocks weather on the surface of Venus, we think they are likely on the young side of these estimates. However, there is nothing to preclude them from happening today – but we don’t have any data that demonstrates that.”
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The areas are analogous to Hawaii with volcanism, broad topographic rises, and large positive gravity anomalies suggesting mantle plumes – which are rising masses of hot molten rock.

Smrekar said the temperature variations aren’t huge. “Only a degree or two above the background temperature,” she said. “‘Hot spot’ refers to the geologic environment. On Earth, places like Hawaii where there is hot material coming up from deep inside the Earth to produce volcanism, are referred to as ‘hot spots’.”

Like on Earth, Venus’s valleys are warmer than its mountains. But the venusian atmosphere is so dense that it completely determines the temperature of the planet’s surface. This enabled the scientists to predict surface temperatures with computer models. Data obtained from VIRTIS last year shows that certain areas deviate from the predictions by as much as two or three degrees, and that was the focus of the team’s study.

Smrekar said the team was surprised at the findings. “Although we suspected that these areas could be volcanically active on geologic time scales from past data sets, this is the first data to confirm very recent volcanism, geologically speaking.”

Sources: Science, email exchange with Suzanne Smrekar, DLR

Posted on by Fraser Cain

How Was Venus Discovered?

Venus captured by Magellan.

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Venus is one of the planets visible with the unaided eye. In fact, Venus is the brightest object in the sky, after the Sun and the Moon. So it’s impossible to know how was Venus discovered. The planet has been known about since prehistoric times. Perhaps a better question is, when did we realize that Venus was a planet?

Thousands of years ago, the Greek astronomers thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe, and everything revolved around us, including the Sun, the Moon, the planets and the stars. But in the in the 1500s, Nicolaus Copernicus developed his theories of a Sun-centered Solar System. Instead of the traditional idea, the Sun was at the center, and the Earth was just another planet like Venus and Mars.

This theory was given a tremendous amount of evidence when Galileo Galilei first turned his rudimentary telescope on Venus, showing that the planet went through phases, like the Moon. This meant that it orbited the Sun, and not the Earth. Galileo also discovered the 4 major moons orbiting Jupiter, demonstrating that not all objects in the Universe orbited the Earth.

So it was in the 16th and 17th centuries that astronomers really came to understand that both Venus and Earth were just planets orbiting the Sun.

We’ve written many articles about the discovery of planets for Universe Today. Here’s an article about how Uranus was discovered, and here’s how Neptune was discovered.

And if you’d like more info on Venus, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Venus, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Where To Next for NASA’s Solar System Exploration?

From top to bottom, pictured are the moon, Venus, and an asteroid.From top to bottom, pictured (not to scale) are the moon, Venus, and an asteroid. These three celestial bodies from our solar system are possible candidates for NASA's next space venture.

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Where is NASA going next to probe our solar system? The space agency announced today they have selected three proposals as candidates for the agency’s next space venture to another celestial body in our solar system. The proposed missions would probe the atmosphere composition and crust of Venus; return a piece of a near-Earth asteroid for analysis; or drop a robotic lander into a basin at the moon’s south pole to return lunar rocks back to Earth for study. All three sound exciting!

Here are the finalists:

Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer, or SAGE, mission to Venus would release a probe to descend through the planet’s atmosphere. During descent, instruments would conduct extensive measurements of the atmosphere’s composition and obtain meteorological data. The probe then would land on the surface of Venus, where its abrading tool would expose both a weathered and a pristine surface area to measure its composition and mineralogy. Scientists hope to understand the origin of Venus and why it is so different from Earth. Larry Esposito of the University of Colorado in Boulder, is the principal investigator.

Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer spacecraft, called Osiris-Rex, would rendezvous and orbit a primitive asteroid. After extensive measurements, instruments would collect more than two ounces of material from the asteriod’s surface for return to Earth. The returned samples would help scientists better undertand and answer long-held questions about the formation of our solar system and the origin of complex molecules necessary for life. Michael Drake, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, is the principal investigator.

MoonRise: Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return Mission would place a lander in a broad basin near the moon’s south pole and return approximately two pounds of lunar materials for study. This region of the lunar surface is believed to harbor rocks excavated from the moon’s mantle. The samples would provide new insight into the early history of the Earth-moon system. Bradley Jolliff, of Washington University in St. Louis, is the principal investigator.

The final project will be selected in mid-2011, and for now, the three finalists will receive approximately $3.3 million in 2010 to conduct a 12-month mission concept study that focuses on implementation feasibility, cost, management and technical plans. Studies also will include plans for educational outreach and small business opportunities.

The selected mission must be ready for launch no later than Dec. 30, 2018. Mission cost, excluding the launch vehicle, is limited to $650 million.

“These are projects that inspire and excite young scientists, engineers and the public,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These three proposals provide the best science value among eight submitted to NASA this year.”

The final selection will become the third mission in the program. New Horizons, launched in 2006, will fly by the Pluto-Charon system in 2015 then target another Kuiper Belt object for study. The second mission, called Juno, is designed to orbit Jupiter from pole to pole for the first time, conducting an in-depth study of the giant planet’s atmosphere and interior. It is slated for launch in August 2011.

Visit the New Frontiers program site for more information.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Venus Length of Day

Venus captured by Magellan.

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The Venus length of day is 243 days.

But the story is a little stranger than that. Venus is actually rotating backwards compared to the rest of the planets in the Solar System. Seen from above the north pole, Venus is slowly rotating in a clockwise direction. Compare this to Earth and the rest of the planets, which rotate in a counter-clockwise direction.

And it gets even stranger, when you consider that a year on Venus only lasts 224.7 days. In other words, a day on Venus is actually longer than a year on Venus. If you could actually stand on the surface and see the Sun, you would see the Sun rise in the West, and pass through the sky over the course of 116.75 days and then set in the East. So a solar day on Venus is 116.75 days.

Astronomers aren’t sure why the length of day on Venus takes so long, and why Venus is rotating backwards. It’s possible that Venus was struck by a large object early on in its history, which flipped it over and caused its strange rotation.

We’ve written many articles about the day length of the planets, here’s an article about a day on Mars, and here’s an article about a day on Saturn.

If you’d like more info on Venus, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Venus, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

How Old is Venus?

Solar nebula. Image credit: NASA

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How old is Venus? Scientists actually think that everything in the Solar System was formed at the same time, about 4.6 billion years ago.

Before that point, our entire Solar System was just a vast cloud of hydrogen, helium and other trace elements. Some event, like a nearby supernova, caused the cloud to collapse through its mutual gravity. As the ball collapsed down, it started to spin because of the conservation of momentum from all the atoms in the cloud. As it spun, it flattened out into a disk. The Sun formed out of a bulge in the middle, and the planets formed in the disk.

The planet started out as nothing more than dust, but then these dust particles collided together, forming larger grains, pebbles, rocks, boulders and eventually planetoids. For the first few millions years, the Solar System was a dangerous place with these planetoids constantly crashing into one another. Life wouldn’t stand a chance to survive.

Eventually the number of objects in the Solar System was cleared out; they were either swept up into the planets, or kicked out of the Solar System by gravity. And we were left with the planets we have today.

Astronomers know that everything in the Solar System (including Venus) is roughly 4.6 billion years old through radioactive dating of meteorites. They can tell that all the meteorites in the Solar System were formed at the same time because of the percentages of radioactive elements they contain. And they’re able to determine how much of these radioactive elements have decayed over time, to determine their age.

So, how old is Venus? 4.6 billion years old, just like everything else in the Solar System.

We’ve written many articles about the age of objects in the Universe. Here’s an article about the age of the Universe, and here’s an article about the age of the Milky Way.

If you’d like more info on Venus, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Venus, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Venus Exploration

The first color pictures taken of the surface of Venus by the Venera-13 space probe. Credit: NASA
The first color pictures taken of the surface of Venus by the Venera-13 space probe. The Venera 13 probe lasted only 127 minutes before succumbing to Venus's extreme surface environment. Part of building a longer-lasting Venus lander is figuring out how to power it. Credit: NASA

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Venus has been know to humanity since we first looked up into the sky; it’s the brightest object in the night sky after the Sun and the Moon, so it’s pretty hard to miss. But Venus exploration really began with the invention of the telescope.

Although he didn’t invent the telescope, Galileo Galilei was the first to point it at the heavens and make detailed observations of what he saw. In 1610 he discovered that Venus goes through phases, like the Moon. This is because Venus is closer to the Sun than the Earth, and so we’re seeing different amounts of the planet illuminated by the Sun. This provided more evidence that the Solar System orbits around the Sun, and not the Earth.

But even with bigger and better telescopes, astronomers weren’t able to penetrate the thick clouds that shroud Venus and see the terrain below. They imagined a warm rainforest jungle world, but astronomers eventually worked out that Venus is really covered in a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, and the ground below is heated to hundreds of degrees.

The first spacecraft to arrive at Venus was NASA’s Mariner 2, which flew past Venus in 1962. It was followed by spacecraft from Russia, including several that actually landed on the surface of Venus, and survived up to a few hours in the horrendous heat. NASA’s Magellan spacecraft was equipped with a radar instrument that could pierce through the atmosphere of Venus and reveal the terrain below. It showed that Venus has evidence of volcanism, and impact craters, but no plate tectonics. This helps contribute to its runaway greenhouse effect.

The most recent spacecraft sent to Venus is the European Space Agency’s Venus Express. It arrived at Venus in 2006, and has been making continuous observations of the planet ever since.

We’ve written many articles about the exploration of the planets in the Solar System. Here’s an article about the benefits of space exploration, and here’s an article about the Mars Exploration Rover.

If you’d like more information on the exploration of Venus, check out the homepage for ESA’s Venus Express, and here’s a link to the Venera Program.

We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Why is Venus So Hot?

You might have heard that Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System. In fact, down at the surface of Venus it’s hot enough to melt lead. But why is Venus so hot?

Three words: runaway greenhouse effect. In many ways, Venus is a virtual twin of Earth. It has a similar size, mass and gravity as well as internal composition. But the one big difference is that Venus has a much thicker atmosphere. If you could stand on the surface of Venus, you would experience 93 times the atmospheric pressure we experience here on Earth; you’d have to dive down 1 km beneath the surface of the ocean to experience that kind of pressure. Furthermore, that atmosphere is made up almost entirely of carbon dioxide. As you’ve probably heard, carbon dioxide makes an excellent greenhouse gas, trapping heat from the Sun. The atmosphere of Venus allows the light from the Sun to pass through the clouds and down to the surface of the planet, which warms the rocks. But then the infrared heat from the warmed rocks is prevented from escaping by the clouds, and so the planet warmed up.

The average temperature on Venus is 735 kelvin, or 461° C. In fact, it’s that same temperature everywhere on Venus. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the pole, or at night, it’s always 735 kelvin.

It’s believed that plate tectonics on Venus stopped billions of years ago. And without plate tectonics burying carbon deep inside the planet, it was able to build up in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide built up to the point that any oceans on Venus boiled away. And then the Sun’s solar wind carried the hydrogen atoms away from Venus, making it impossible to ever make liquid water again. The concentration of carbon dioxide just kept increasing until it was all in the atmosphere.

We’ve written many articles about Venus for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the atmosphere of Venus, and here’s an article about how to find Venus in the sky.

If you’d like more info on Venus, here’s a cool lecture about Venus and the greenhouse effect, and here’s more information on the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus.

We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast just about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

How Long is a Day on Venus?

The length of day on Venus is 243 Earth days. Read that again, it’s not a year, but the length of a single day. In fact, a year on Venus is only 224.7 days, so a day on Venus is longer than its year. And things get even stranger. Venus rotates backwards. All of the planets in the Solar System rotate counter-clockwise when you look at them from above. But Venus turns clockwise.

Of course it’s impossible to stand on the surface of Venus and survive. And even if you could, you wouldn’t be able to see the Sun through the dense clouds. But if you could stand on Venus and see the Sun, you’d see the Sun rise in the West, pass through the sky for 116.75 days and then set in the East. That’s the opposite of what we see here on Earth.

Why does Venus rotate backwards? Astronomers aren’t sure, but it’s possible that Venus suffered a massive impact from a large planetoid billions of years ago. This could have given the planet a kick that set it slowly tumbling, eventually flipping completely over so that it’s now upside-down.

We’ve written many articles about day length for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the length of day on Mercury, and here’s an article about the length of day for all the planets in the Solar System.

If you’d like more info on Venus, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Venus, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Mars and Venus

Mars and Venus are the two terrestrial planets most similar to Earth. One orbits closer to the Sun, and one orbits more distant to the Sun. But both are visible with the unaided eye, and two of the brightest objects in the night sky.

Venus orbits at an average distance of only 108 million km from the Sun, while Mars is an average of 228 million km. Venus gets as close to Earth as 38 million km, and Mars gets as close as 55.7 million km.

In terms of size, Venus is almost a twin planet of Earth. Its diameter is 12,104 km, which is 95% the diameter of Earth. Mars is much smaller, with a diameter of only 6,792 km. And again, in terms of mass, Venus is almost Earth’s twin. It has 81% the mass of Earth, while Mars only has 10% the mass of Earth.

The climates of Mars and Venus are very different, and very different from Earth as well. Temperatures on the surface of Venus average 461 °C across the entire planet. That’s hot enough to melt lead. While the average temperature on Mars is a chilly -46 °C. This temperature difference comes from the fact that Venus is closer to the Sun, but also because it has a thick atmosphere of heat trapping carbon dioxide. The atmosphere on Venus is nearly 100 times thicker than Earth’s atmosphere at sea level, while the atmosphere on Mars is 1% the thickness of Earth.

Mars is the most studied planet in the Solar System (after the Earth). There have been dozens of missions sent to Mars, including orbiters and rovers. Although many missions have been lost, there have been several that have successfully orbited the planet and several that have landed on the surface. Missions have also been sent to Venus, and you might be surprised to know that the Soviets sent a series of landers called Venera that actually reached the surface of Venus and survived long enough to send back a few photographs.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, while Venus has no moons. And neither planet has rings.

We’ve written many articles about Mars and Venus for Universe Today. Here’s an article about how the atmospheres of Mars and Venus leak into space, and a look at Venus wet past.

If you’d like more information on those two planets, here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus, and Hubblesite’s News Releases about Mars.

We’ve also recorded several episodes of Astronomy Cast about the planets. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus and Episode 52: Mars.

Reference:
NASA

Posted on by Fraser Cain

What Color is Venus?

Venus. Image Credit: NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org



Here’s a question: what color is Venus? With the unaided eye, Venus just looks like a very bright star in the sky. But spacecraft have sent back images of the cloud tops of Venus, and some have even returned images from the surface of Venus.

If you could actually fly out to Venus and look at it with your own eyes, you wouldn’t see much more than a bright white-yellowish ball with no features. You wouldn’t actually be able to see any of the cloud features that you can see in photographs of Venus. That’s because those photos are taken using different wavelengths of light, where differences in the cloud layers are visible. For example, the photo that accompanies this story was captured in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Although the atmosphere of Venus is almost entirely made up of carbon dioxide, the clouds that obscure our view to the surface are made of sulfur dioxide. These are opaque to visible light, and so we can’t see through them to the surface of Venus. These clouds actually rain droplets of sulfuric acid.

Surface of Venus by Venera.
Surface of Venus by Venera.

If you could get down beneath the cloud tops of Venus, you wouldn’t be able to see much either. That’s because the clouds are so thick that most of the light from the Sun is blocked before it reaches the surface. You would see a dim landscape, like you might see at twilight. The surface of the planet is littered with brownish-red volcanic rocks. The bright red color you see in the Soviet Venera images of Venus have been brightened to show more surface detail.

So, what color is Venus? Yellowish-white.

We’ve written several articles about the color of the planets for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the color of Mercury, and here’s an article about the color of Pluto.

If you’d like more info on Venus, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Venus, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus.

We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus.