On the distant star Venus
The sun is fiery and golden,
On Venus, ah, on Venus
Trees have blue leaves.

Nikolai Gumilyov

The planet of the Roman goddess of love and beauty, the morning and evening star... You must have seen her - early in the morning, when the sun is about to rise, she is the last one to disappear in the brightening sky. Or, on the contrary, it lights up first against the background of a fading sunset - the brightest, except for the Sun and the Moon, is 17 times brighter than the brightest star - Sirius. If you look closely, it does not look like a star - it does not twinkle, but shines with an even white light.

But at midnight you will never see her. Venus for an earthly observer does not move away from the Sun by more than 48 °, because we are looking at its orbit "outside". Therefore, Venus is clearly visible in two cases: when it is to the right, west of the Sun - this is called western elongation - at this time, it sets before the Sun and rises before the Sun, so it is clearly visible before sunrise; and when it is to the left of the Sun and follows it across the sky during the day, then it is visible in the evening (Fig. 1). The period when the planet is close to the Earth-Sun line is called connection(the planet "connects" with the Sun), at this time it is not visible.

However, not quite so. Venus is not visible to the eye when it is close to the Sun, but with a telescope - if you know exactly where to look for it - you can see it. (By the way, the task is to draw what Venus looks like in a telescope, for example, in eastern elongation.) And occasionally it happens that for an earthly observer it passes not near the Sun, but directly across its disk. During such a passage, observing it through a telescope, Lomonosov discovered the atmosphere of Venus. When would about Most of Venus was already on the disk of the Sun, for a moment he saw a thin luminous rim around the rest of the planet (Fig. 2). Many have seen this rim, but did not attach any importance to it. And only Lomonosov realized that it was the slanting rays of the sun that illuminated the atmosphere of the planet, like a flashlight in the dark illuminates the smoke and makes it visible.

This atmosphere was not at all a gift. For starters, it turned out that it is opaque to "ordinary" (visible) light and does not make it possible to see the surface of the planet: it's like trying to see the bottom of a saucepan through a layer of milk. But the main thing people learned only when they tried to land a descent vehicle on Venus.

Venus is almost the size of the Earth, and not much less in mass; it would seem that these two planets are almost the same. So even at the beginning of the 20th century, it could be assumed that trees grow on Venus and, in general, someone lives. Or that, for example, earthlings can settle on it. However, these hopes did not come true: the first device that tried to land on Venus (in 1967) was crushed before reaching the surface!

It turned out that on Venus there is a monstrous atmospheric pressure: almost 100 times more than on Earth. For every square centimeter of the surface, a column of air presses with such force, as if on Earth a hundred-kilogram weight was placed on this centimeter! The density of the Venusian "air" is only 14 times less than the density of water. The temperature is always - both during the day and at night - 470 ° C, more than in the hottest place on Mercury! In addition, the atmosphere, which consists mainly of carbon dioxide (CO 2), contains a bunch of poisonous and caustic sulfur compounds, including sulfuric acid. So far, not a single descent vehicle - and there were about a dozen of them - has lasted in this environment for more than two hours ...

Try to imagine this picture. The sky on Venus is orange, always covered in clouds of sulfuric acid. The sun is never visible behind a continuous layer of clouds. Naturally, there is no water - at such a temperature it has long evaporated (and it looks like there were oceans before!). Sometimes there are acid rains (literally: acid instead of water), but they do not reach the surface - they evaporate from the heat. There is almost no wind below, only 1 m / s, but the “air” is so dense that even such a weak wind raises dust and small pebbles, all this seems to be floating in the air. But above, at the height of the clouds, a giant hurricane is constantly raging - the wind speed there reaches 100 m / s, that is, 360 km / h, and even more! (Where this hurricane came from is still unknown.)

How did it happen? Why is this picture so different from Earth? Let's figure it out.

Sulfur compounds and carbon dioxide (of which 96% on Venus) entered the atmosphere from volcanoes. There are many volcanoes - thousands, the entire surface is covered with solidified lava. It is possible that some of the volcanoes are still active, but so far no eruptions have been seen on Venus.

All these "volcanic" gases have heavy molecules: for example, a carbon dioxide molecule weighs 1.5 times more than the nitrogen and oxygen molecules that make up the earth's atmosphere. And there are a lot of them. Therefore, the "air" there is so dense and heavy.

Why is the temperature so high? Again, volcanic gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are to blame. He creates the so-called the greenhouse effect, the essence of which is this. The sun illuminates the planet (Earth, for example) and thereby heats it up, transferring to it every second (through the rays of light) some energy. Thanks to this energy, winds blow, rivers flow, plants and animals live. But energy never disappears, it can only change from one form to another. We ate a sandwich - the (chemical) energy hidden in it was spent on heating our body. A river flows - the water hits the stones and also heats them. So in the end, the energy transferred by the Sun to the planet turns into heat - the planet heats up. Where does the energy go next? The heated surface of the planet emits a slightly different radiation, invisible to the eye - infrared. The hotter the surface, the stronger the radiation. This radiation goes into space and carries away "extra" energy - exactly as much as it comes from the Sun. A balance is maintained: how much you take - so much return.

And if you return (that is, radiate) less than you took (received from the Sun)? Energy will begin to accumulate on the planet, and the temperature of the surface and air will rise. A more heated surface emits more infrared rays - and soon the balance will be restored, but at a higher temperature.

Here is the greenhouse effect - this is overheating, which occurs just from such a temporary imbalance. This is because carbon dioxide absorbs infrared rays. The surface of the planet emits them, but carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does not release them out into space! Solar energy with visible light gets inside, but the atmosphere does not let it go outside. This is how energy accumulates until the entire atmosphere warms up so much that its upper layer can finally radiate the required amount of energy into space and restore balance. This is what happened on Venus - in order to restore balance, its surface had to warm up by 400 degrees. This can happen to the Earth if too much carbon dioxide and other "complex" gases accumulate in its atmosphere!

There is another interesting feature. Almost everything in the solar system - all the planets and b about Most of the asteroids revolve around the Sun in the same direction. And around the axis, all the large planets rotate in the same direction - all but one. Venus rotates "not like everyone else", however, very slowly: 1 rotation around its axis in 243 Earth days, while the Venusian year lasts 225 Earth days. That is, Venus revolves around the Sun even a little faster than around the axis! Having trained on Mercury, of course, you can easily figure out how long the day would be and how long the night would be on Venus if these two periods coincided (this answer is almost real, since the difference is small). The resonance with the Sun is again incomplete - and again, perhaps, the reason is in the Earth: just as Mercury in its “waltz” always turns to us with the same side when it meets, so Venus in each conjunction with the Sun is turned to the Earth in the same way. So inaccurate resonance with the Sun - but there is a resonance with the Earth.

Why is she spinning the wrong way? Unclear. There are different hypotheses, one more doubtful than the other. All of them somehow come down to the fact that "in childhood" some kind of misfortune happened to Venus. Someone pushed or hit... On the other hand, the answer to the previous question is well known - why do all the other planets spin so unanimously (and all, except Mercury, quickly) in the same direction? Try to guess.

Answers

1. When looking through a telescope, Venus has a clearly visible disk, so the phases are also visible - like those of the Moon. And for the same reason: only its illuminated side is visible. In the eastern elongation, we see exactly half a circle “in the form of the letter P” (see Fig. 1 of the article), like the Moon in the first quarter. But unlike the Moon, the month of Venus does not grow at this time, but decreases: further on, the Earth and the Sun will be on opposite sides of it, and its crescent will become very narrow.

2. If the year and sidereal day coincided, day and night would last for a quarter of a year - see the figure below. In fact, a solar day on Venus lasts 116 Earth days, that is, more than half a year, but less than half a sidereal day.

3. Rotation (both annual and daily) in one direction is a consequence of a common origin. All the planets "blinded" from lumps (planetesimals) in a large protoplanetary cloud, which, as a whole, slowly rotated in one (random) direction, like soup in a saucepan, if it is slightly stirred with a spoon. When the Sun was formed, the whole cloud condensed (shrank towards the center) and, like a figure skater who pressed his hands to his body in the “screw”, began to rotate faster; in physics this is called conservation of angular momentum. Separate lumps were also compressed (and very strongly), forming planets, and their rotation around the axis was greatly accelerated. Therefore, the planets rotate around the axis quickly; Mercury slowed down after that.

Artist Maria Useinova

On Earth, such pressure can also be found - in the ocean, at a depth of 1 km.

In fact, there is a small greenhouse effect (but not due to carbon dioxide, but due to water vapor) on Earth, and very handy: without it, the temperature would be 20-30 degrees lower than now.

Formally, Uranus is also spinning “in the wrong direction”, but we will talk about it separately.

You just need to draw a picture ... If it doesn't work out, see the answers.

And the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. Sometimes this planet is called sister of the earth, which is associated with a certain similarity in mass and size. The surface of Venus is covered with a completely impenetrable layer of clouds, the main component of which is sulfuric acid.

naming Venus the planet received in honor of the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Even in the time of the ancient Romans, people already knew that this Venus is one of four planets that differ from the Earth. It was the planet's highest brightness, the visibility of Venus, that played a role in the fact that it was named after the goddess of love, and this allowed for years to associate the planet with love, femininity and romance.

For a long time it was believed that Venus and Earth are twin planets. The reason for this was their similarity in size, density, mass and volume. However, later scientists found that despite the obvious similarity of these planetary characteristics, the planets are very different from each other. We are talking about such parameters as the atmosphere, rotation, surface temperature and the presence of satellites (Venus does not have them).

As in the case of Mercury, human knowledge of Venus increased significantly in the second half of the twentieth century. Before the US and Soviet Union began organizing their missions in the 1960s, there was still hope for scientists that the conditions beneath Venus' incredibly dense clouds might be habitable. But the data collected as a result of these missions proved the opposite - the conditions on Venus are too harsh for the existence of living organisms on its surface.

A significant contribution to the study of both the atmosphere and the surface of Venus was made by the USSR mission of the same name. The first spacecraft sent to the planet and flying past the planet was Venera-1, developed by the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation named after S.P. Koroleva (today NPO Energia). Despite the fact that communication with this ship, as well as with several other vehicles of the mission, was lost, there were those who were able not only to study the chemical composition of the atmosphere, but even reach the surface itself.

The first ship, launched on June 12, 1967, which was able to conduct atmospheric research was Venera-4. The spacecraft's descent module was literally crushed by pressure in the planet's atmosphere, but the orbital module managed to make a number of valuable observations and obtain the first data on Venus's temperature, density, and chemical composition. The mission made it possible to determine that the planet's atmosphere consists of 90% carbon dioxide with a small amount of oxygen and water vapor.

The instruments of the orbiter indicated that Venus has no radiation belts, and the magnetic field is 3000 times weaker than the Earth's magnetic field. An indicator of solar ultraviolet radiation aboard the ship made it possible to reveal the hydrogen corona of Venus, the hydrogen content in which was about 1000 times less than in the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. The data were further confirmed by the Venera-5 and Venera-6 missions.

Thanks to these and subsequent studies, today scientists can distinguish two wide layers in the atmosphere of Venus. The first and main layer is clouds that cover the entire planet with an impenetrable sphere. The second is everything below these clouds. The clouds surrounding Venus extend from 50 to 80 kilometers above the planet's surface and are composed primarily of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4). These clouds are so dense that they reflect 60% of all the sunlight that Venus receives back into space.

The second layer, which is below the clouds, has two main functions: density and composition. The combined effect of these two functions on the planet is enormous - it makes Venus the hottest and least hospitable of all the planets in the solar system. Due to the greenhouse effect, the temperature of the layer can reach 480 ° C., which allows heating the surface of Venus to the maximum temperatures in our system.

Clouds of Venus

Based on observations by the Venus Express satellite, which is overseen by the European Space Agency (ESA), scientists have for the first time been able to show how the weather conditions in the thick layers of clouds of Venus are related to the topography of its surface. It turned out that the clouds of Venus can not only interfere with the observation of the surface of the planet, but also give clues about what exactly is located on it.

It is believed that Venus is very hot due to the incredible greenhouse effect, which heats its surface to temperatures of 450 degrees Celsius. The climate on the surface is depressing, and it itself is very dimly lit, as it is covered by an incredibly thick layer of clouds. At the same time, the wind that is present on the planet has a speed not exceeding the speed of an easy run - 1 meter per second.

However, when viewed from afar, the planet, which is also called Earth's sister, looks very different - the planet is surrounded by smooth, bright clouds. These clouds form a thick layer twenty kilometers above the surface and thus much colder than the surface itself. The typical temperature of this layer is about -70 degrees Celsius, which is comparable to the temperatures found on Earth's cloud tops. In the upper layer of the cloud, weather conditions are much more extreme, with winds hundreds of times faster than on the surface and even faster than the rotational speed of Venus itself.

With the help of Venus Express observations, scientists have been able to significantly improve the climate map of Venus. They were able to single out three aspects of the planet's cloudy weather at once: how fast the winds on Venus are able to circulate, how much water is contained in the clouds, and how bright these clouds are distributed across the spectrum (in ultraviolet light).

“Our results have shown that all of these aspects: wind, water content and cloud composition are somehow related to the properties of the surface of Venus,” said Jean-Loup Berteau of the LATMOS observatory in France, lead author of the new Venus Express study. "We used spacecraft observations that cover a period of six years, from 2006 to 2012, and this allowed us to study patterns of long-term weather changes on the planet."

Surface of Venus

Before the radar studies of the planet, the most valuable data on the surface were obtained using the same Soviet space program "Venus". The first vehicle to make a soft landing on the surface of Venus was the Venera 7 space probe, launched on August 17, 1970.

Despite the fact that even before landing, many of the ship's instruments had already failed, he was able to detect pressure and temperature indicators on the surface, which amounted to 90 ± 15 atmospheres and 475 ± 20 ° C.

1 - descent vehicle;
2 - solar panels;
3 – celestial orientation sensor;
4 - protective panel;
5 - corrective propulsion system;
6 - manifolds of the pneumatic system with control nozzles;
7 – cosmic particle counter;
8 - orbital compartment;
9 - radiator-cooler;
10 - low-directional antenna;
11 - highly directional antenna;
12 - pneumatic system automation unit;
13 - cylinder of compressed nitrogen

The subsequent Venera-8 mission turned out to be even more successful - it was possible to obtain the first samples of the surface soil. Thanks to the gamma spectrometer installed on the ship, it was possible to determine the content of radioactive elements in the rocks, such as potassium, uranium, and thorium. It turned out that the soil of Venus resembles terrestrial rocks in its composition.

The first black-and-white photographs of the surface were taken by the Venera-9 and Venera-10 probes, which were launched almost one after the other and made a soft landing on the planet's surface on October 22 and 25, 1975, respectively.

After that, the first radar data of the Venusian surface were obtained. The pictures were taken in 1978, when the first of the American spacecraft Pioneer Venus arrived in orbit around the planet. The maps created from the images showed that the surface consisted mainly of plains, which were formed by powerful lava flows, as well as two mountainous regions, called Ishtar Terra and Aphrodite. The data were subsequently confirmed by the Venera 15 and Venera 16 missions, which mapped the northern hemisphere of the planet.

The first color images of the surface of Venus and even a sound recording were obtained using the Venera-13 descent module. The module's camera took 14 color and 8 black and white photographs of the surface. Also, for the first time, an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer was used to analyze soil samples, thanks to which it was possible to identify the priority rock at the landing site - leucite alkaline basalt. The average surface temperature during module operation was 466.85 °C and the pressure was 95.6 bar.

The module of the Venera-14 spacecraft launched after it was able to transmit the first panoramic images of the planet's surface:

Despite the fact that the photographic images of the planet's surface obtained with the help of the Venus space program are still the only and unique ones, they represent the most valuable scientific material, these photographs could not give a large-scale idea of ​​the planet's topography. After analyzing the results obtained, the space powers focused on the radar research of Venus.

In 1990, a spacecraft called Magellan began its work in the orbit of Venus. He managed to take better radar images, which turned out to be much more detailed and informative. So, for example, it turned out that out of 1000 impact craters that Magellan discovered, none of them exceeded two kilometers in diameter. This led scientists to believe that any meteorite less than two kilometers in diameter simply burned up when passing through the dense Venusian atmosphere.

Because of the thick clouds that surround Venus, the details of its surface cannot be seen using simple photographic means. Fortunately, scientists were able to use the radar method to obtain the necessary information.

Although both photographic tools and radar work by collecting radiation that is reflected from an object, they have a big difference and that lies in reflecting forms of radiation. Photo captures visible light radiation, while radar mapping reflects microwave radiation. The advantage of using radar in the case of Venus proved to be clear, as microwave radiation can pass through the planet's thick clouds, while the light needed for photography is unable to do so.

Thus, additional studies of the size of the craters have helped shed light on factors that speak to the age of the planet's surface. It turned out that small impact craters are practically absent on the surface of the planet, but there are no large-diameter craters either. This led scientists to believe that the surface was formed after a period of heavy bombardment, between 3.8 and 4.5 billion years ago, when a large number of impact craters formed on the inner planets. This indicates that the surface of Venus has a relatively young geological age.

The study of the planet's volcanic activity revealed even more characteristic features of the surface.

The first feature is the huge plains described above, created by lava flows in the past. These plains cover about 80% of the entire Venusian surface. The second characteristic feature is volcanic formations, which are very numerous and varied. In addition to the shield volcanoes that exist on Earth (for example, Mauna Loa), many flat volcanoes have been discovered on Venus. These volcanoes are different from Earth volcanoes in that they have a distinctive flat disc-shaped shape due to the fact that all the lava contained in the volcano erupted at once. After such an eruption, the lava comes out in a single stream, spreading in a circular fashion.

Geology of Venus

As with other terrestrial planets, Venus is essentially made up of three layers: crust, mantle, and core. However, there is something that is very intriguing - the bowels of Venus (unlike or) are very similar to the bowels of the Earth. Due to the fact that it is not yet possible to compare the true composition of the two planets, such conclusions were made based on their characteristics. At the moment, it is believed that the crust of Venus has a thickness of 50 kilometers, the thickness of the mantle is 3,000 kilometers, and the core has a diameter of 6,000 kilometers.

In addition, scientists still do not have an answer to the question of whether the core of the planet is liquid or is it a solid body. All that remains is, in view of the similarity of the two planets, to assume that it is as liquid as that of the Earth.

However, some studies indicate that the core of Venus is solid. To prove this theory, the researchers cite the fact that the planet lacks a magnetic field. Simply put, planetary magnetic fields are the result of the transfer of heat from inside the planet to its surface, and the liquid core is a necessary component of this transfer. The insufficient strength of the magnetic fields, according to this concept, indicates that the existence of a liquid core in Venus is simply impossible.

Orbit and rotation of Venus

The most notable aspect of Venus's orbit is its uniformity in distance from the Sun. The eccentricity of the orbit is only .00678, that is, the orbit of Venus is the most circular of all the planets. Moreover, such a small eccentricity indicates that the difference between the perihelion of Venus (1.09 x 10 8 km.) And its aphelion (1.09 x 10 8 km.) Is only 1.46 x 10 6 kilometers.

Information about the rotation of Venus, as well as data on its surface, remained a mystery until the second half of the twentieth century, when the first radar data were obtained. It turned out that the rotation of the planet around its axis is counterclockwise when viewed from the "upper" plane of the orbit, but in fact, the rotation of Venus is retrograde or clockwise. The reason for this is currently unknown, but there are two popular theories to explain the phenomenon. The first one points to the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance of Venus with the Earth. Proponents of the theory believe that over billions of years, the force of gravity of the Earth changed the rotation of Venus to its current state.

Proponents of another concept doubt that the Earth's gravitational force was strong enough to change the rotation of Venus in such a fundamental way. Instead, they refer to the early period of the solar system, when the formation of the planets took place. According to this view, the original rotation of Venus was similar to the rotation of other planets, but was changed to the current orientation when the young planet collided with a large planetesimal. The impact was so powerful that it turned the planet upside down.

The second unexpected discovery related to the rotation of Venus is its speed.

In order to make a full rotation around its axis, the planet takes about 243 Earth days, that is, a day on Venus is longer than on any other planet and a day on Venus is comparable to a year on Earth. But even more scientists were struck by the fact that a year on Venus is almost 19 Earth days less than one day of Venus. Again, no other planet in the solar system has such properties. Scientists associate this feature just with the reverse rotation of the planet, the features of the study of which were described above.

• Venus is the third brightest natural object in the Earth's sky after the Moon and the Sun. The planet has a visual magnitude of -3.8 to -4.6, making it visible even on a clear day.
  Venus is sometimes called the "morning star" and "evening star". This is due to the fact that representatives of ancient civilizations took this planet for two different stars, depending on the time of day.
  One day on Venus is longer than one year. Due to the slow rotation around its axis, a day lasts 243 Earth days. A revolution in the orbit of the planet takes 225 Earth days.
  Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is believed that the ancient Romans named her so because of the high brightness of the planet, which in turn could come from the time of Babylon, whose inhabitants called Venus "the bright queen of the sky."
  Venus has no moons or rings.
  Billions of years ago, Venus' climate could have been similar to Earth's. Scientists believe that Venus once had a lot of water and oceans, but due to high temperatures and the greenhouse effect, the water has boiled away, and the surface of the planet is currently too hot and hostile to support life.
  Venus rotates in the opposite direction to the other planets. Most of the other planets rotate counterclockwise around their axis, but Venus, like Venus, rotates clockwise. This is known as retrograde rotation and may have been caused by a collision with an asteroid or other space object that changed the direction of her rotation.
  Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with an average surface temperature of 462°C. Also, Venus has no axial tilt, which means there are no seasons on the planet. The atmosphere is very dense and contains 96.5% carbon dioxide, which traps heat and causes the greenhouse effect that vaporized water sources billions of years ago.
  The temperature on Venus practically does not change with the change of day and night. This is due to the too slow movement of the solar wind over the entire surface of the planet.
  The age of the Venusian surface is about 300-400 million years. (The Earth's surface is about 100 million years old).
  The atmospheric pressure of Venus is 92 times stronger than on Earth. This means that any small asteroids entering Venus' atmosphere will be crushed by the enormous pressure. This explains the lack of small craters on the surface of the planet. This pressure is equivalent to the pressure at a depth of about 1000 km. in the oceans of the earth.

Venus has a very weak magnetic field. This surprised scientists, who had expected Venus to have a magnetic field similar in strength to Earth's. One possible reason for this is that Venus has a solid inner core, or that it is not cooling.
Venus is the only planet in the solar system named after a woman.
Venus is the closest planet to Earth. The distance from our planet to Venus is 41 million kilometers.

Photo of Venus

The first and only to date photographic images of the surface of Venus were obtained by spacecraft of the Soviet space program "Venus". But there are also pictures of the planet taken by the Akatsuki probe.

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Venus is a planet that has long been called the twin sister of our Earth. However, when the first scientific data about it were obtained, this opinion changed a lot. This is one of the hottest planets in the solar system, and it also has a crazy atmosphere, which not only makes it difficult to study it, but also excludes any presence of life on its surface.

1. Venus is the most similar planet to the Earth in size, its diameter is only 640 kilometers smaller than the Earth's.
2. The Venusian year is 225 Earth days long.
3. In the entire solar system, only Venus and Uranus rotate around their axis from east to west.
4. A day on Venus is longer than a year - 243 Earth days.
5. Venus can be easily seen from Earth with the naked eye.
6. The surface of Venus is hidden by such dense clouds that no rays of the visible part of the spectrum penetrate through them.
7. The high surface temperature of Venus is caused by a powerful greenhouse effect.
8. The gravity on Venus is about nine-tenths that of Earth.
9. The first photograph of Venus from space was taken in 1962 by the Mariner 2 spacecraft.
10. The mass of Venus is approximately 80 percent of the Earth's.
11. The first landing of an unmanned spacecraft on Venus was carried out in 1970 by a Soviet probe.
12. There are no seasons on Venus.
13. All craters on Venus have a diameter of at least two kilometers, since only large meteorites can reach the surface of the planet through the dense Venusian atmosphere, while the rest crumble and burn.
14. From the surface of Venus, the sun is not visible due to constant dense clouds.
15. Venusian clouds in four Earth days pass a full circle over the planet due to constantly blowing strong winds.
16. The magnetic field of Venus is very weak.
17. Venus, along with Mercury, has no natural satellites (see).
18. Venus has such a high albedo that on a moonless night it can cast a shadow on Earth.
19. The atmosphere of Venus is 96.5 percent carbon dioxide.
20. The temperature on the surface of Venus reaches 475 degrees Celsius, which is higher than the melting point of lead.
21. The mass of the Venusian atmosphere is 93 times greater than that of the earth.
22. The pressure on the surface of Venus is 90 times greater than Earth's.
23. Sulfuric acid rains on Venus.
24. Of all the planets in the solar system, only Venus revolves around the sun in a clockwise direction.
25. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, despite being much further from the Sun than Mercury.
26. The highest mountains on Venus reach 11.3 kilometers.
27. There are thousands of volcanoes on the surface of Venus.
28. There is no water of any kind on Venus.
29. A typical Venusian landscape - mountains and rocky deserts, shrouded in eternal darkness.

The universe is huge. Scholars who try to embrace it in their research often feel the incomparable loneliness of humanity that pervades some of Yefremov's novels. There is too little chance of finding life like ours in the available space of space.

For a long time, among the contenders for the settlement of organic life was the solar system, shrouded in legends no less than fog.

Venus, in terms of distance from the star, immediately follows Mercury and is our closest neighbor. From Earth, it can be seen without the help of a telescope: in the evening and pre-dawn hours, Venus is the brightest in the sky after the Moon and the Sun. The color of the planet for a simple observer is always white.

In the literature, you can find its designation as the twin of the Earth. There are a number of explanations for this: the description of the planet Venus in many ways repeats the data about our house. First of all, they include a diameter (about 12,100 km), which practically coincides with the corresponding characteristic of the Blue Planet (a difference of about 5%). The mass of the object, named after the goddess of love, also differs little from the earth. Proximity also played a role in partial identification.

The discovery of the atmosphere reinforced the opinion about the similarity of the two. Information about the planet Venus, confirming the presence of a special air shell, was obtained by M.V. Lomonosov in 1761. The brilliant scientist observed the passage of the planet across the disk of the Sun and noticed a special radiance. The phenomenon was explained by the refraction of light rays in the atmosphere. However, subsequent discoveries have revealed a huge gulf between seemingly similar conditions on the two planets.

Veil of secrecy

Evidence of similarities, such as Venus and the presence of an atmosphere, were supplemented by data on the composition of the air, which effectively crossed out dreams of the existence of life on the Morning Star. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen were detected in the process. Their share in the air shell is distributed as 96 and 3%, respectively.

The density of the atmosphere is a factor that makes Venus so clearly visible from Earth and at the same time inaccessible to research. The layers of clouds that envelop the planet reflect light well, but are impenetrable to scientists who want to find out what they hide. More detailed information about the planet Venus became available only after the start of space research.

The composition of the cloud cover is not fully understood. Presumably, sulfuric acid vapors play a large role in it. The concentration of gases and the density of the atmosphere, which is about a hundred times higher than the earth's, creates a greenhouse effect on the surface.

Eternal heat

The weather on the planet Venus is in many ways similar to the fantastic descriptions of conditions in the underworld. Due to the peculiarities of the atmosphere, the surface never cools down, even from that part of it that is turned away from the Sun. And this despite the fact that the rotation around the axis of the Morning Star makes more than 243 Earth days! The temperature on the planet Venus is +470ºC.

The absence of a change in seasons is explained by the inclination of the planet's axis, which, according to various sources, does not exceed 40 or 10º. Moreover, the thermometer here gives the same results both for the equatorial zone and for the region of the poles.

the greenhouse effect

Such conditions leave no chance for water. According to the researchers, Venus once had oceans, but rising temperatures made their existence impossible. Ironically, the greenhouse effect was made possible by the evaporation of large amounts of water. Steam allows sunlight to pass through, but traps heat near the surface, thereby contributing to an increase in temperature.

Surface

The heat also contributed to the formation of the landscape. Before the advent of radar techniques in the arsenal of astronomy, the nature of the surface that the planet Venus possesses was hidden from scientists. The photographs and images taken helped to compile a fairly detailed relief map.

The high temperature has thinned the crust of the planet, so there are a large number of volcanoes, both active and extinct. They give Venus that hilly appearance that is clearly visible on radar images. Basalt lava flows have formed vast plains, against which elevations are clearly visible, stretching for several tens of square kilometers. These are the so-called continents, comparable in size to Australia, and in terms of terrain reminiscent of the mountain ranges of Tibet. Their surface is dotted with cracks and craters, in contrast to the landscape of part of the plains, which are almost completely smooth.

There are much fewer craters left by meteorites here than, for example, on the Moon. Scientists name two possible reasons for this: a dense atmosphere, which plays the role of a kind of screen, and active processes that have erased traces of falling space bodies. In the first case, the discovered craters most likely appeared during a period when the atmosphere was more rarefied.

Desert

The description of the planet Venus will be incomplete if attention is paid only to radar data. They give an idea of ​​the nature of the relief, but it is difficult for the layman to understand on their basis what he would see if he got here. Studies of spacecraft that landed on the Morning Star helped answer the question of what color the planet Venus would be to an observer located on its surface. As befits a hellish landscape, shades of orange and gray dominate here. The landscape really resembles a desert, waterless and dousing with heat. Such is Venus. The color of the planet, characteristic of the ground, dominates in the sky. The reason for such an unusual color is the absorption of the short-wavelength part of the light spectrum, which is characteristic of a dense atmosphere.

Learning Difficulties

Data on Venus is collected by devices with great difficulty. Staying on the planet is complicated by strong winds, reaching a peak speed at an altitude of 50 km above the surface. Near the ground, the elements are largely calmed down, but even a slight movement of air is a significant obstacle in the dense atmosphere that the planet Venus has. The photos that give an idea of ​​the surface are taken by ships that can only withstand a hostile onslaught for a few hours. However, they are enough for scientists to discover something new after each expedition.

Hurricane-force winds are not the only feature the weather on the planet Venus is famous for. Thunderstorms rage here with a frequency exceeding the similar parameter for the Earth twice. During the period of increasing activity, lightning causes a specific glow of the atmosphere.

"Eccentricities" of the Morning Star

The Venusian wind is the reason why the clouds move around the planet much faster than it itself around the axis. As noted, the last parameter is 243 days. The atmosphere circulates around the planet in four days. The Venusian quirks don't end there.

The length of the year here is somewhat less than the length of the day: 225 Earth days. At the same time, the Sun on the planet does not rise in the east, but in the west. Such an unconventional direction of rotation is unique to Uranus. It was the speed of rotation around the Sun that exceeded the earth's speed that made it possible to observe Venus twice a day: in the morning and in the evening.

The planet's orbit is an almost perfect circle, and the same can be said about its shape. The Earth is slightly flattened at the poles; the Morning Star does not have such a feature.

Coloring

What color is the planet Venus? Partially, this topic has already been disclosed, but not everything is so simple. This characteristic can also be attributed to the number of features that Venus possesses. The color of the planet, as seen from space, is different from the dusty orange found on the surface. Again, it's all about the atmosphere: the veil of clouds does not let the rays of the blue-green spectrum pass below and at the same time colors the planet for an outside observer in off-white. For earthlings, rising above the horizon, the Morning Star has a cold sheen, not a reddish glow.

Structure

Numerous spacecraft missions have made it possible not only to draw conclusions about the color of the surface, but also to study in more detail what is under it. The structure of the planet is similar to the earth. The morning star has a crust (about 16 km thick), a mantle under it and a core - the core. The size of the planet Venus is close to the earth, but the ratio of its inner shells is different. The thickness of the mantle layer is more than three thousand kilometers, its basis is various silicon compounds. The mantle surrounds a relatively small core, liquid and predominantly iron. Significantly inferior to the earthly "heart", it makes a significant contribution to approximately a quarter of it.

Features of the planet's core deprive it of its own magnetic field. As a result, Venus is exposed to the solar wind and is not immune to the so-called hot flow anomaly, explosions of colossal magnitude that occur with alarming frequency and are capable, researchers speculate, of engulfing the Morning Star.

Exploring the Earth

All the characteristics that Venus has: the color of the planet, the greenhouse effect, the movement of magma, and so on, are being studied, among other things, with the aim of applying the data obtained to our planet. It is believed that the structure of the surface of the second planet from the Sun can give an idea of ​​how the young Earth looked like about 4 billion years ago.

Atmospheric gas data tell researchers about a time when Venus was just forming. They are also used in the construction of theories about the development of the Blue Planet.

To a number of scientists, the sizzling heat and lack of water on Venus seem like a possible future for the Earth.

Artificial cultivation of life

Projects for the settlement of other planets with organic life are also connected with forecasts promising the death of the Earth. One candidate is Venus. The ambitious plan is to spread in the atmosphere and on the surface of blue-green algae, which are the central link in the theory of the origin of life on our planet. The delivered microorganisms, in theory, can significantly reduce the level of carbon dioxide concentration and lead to a decrease in pressure on the planet, after which further settlement of the planet will become possible. The only insurmountable obstacle so far to the implementation of the plan is the lack of water necessary for the prosperity of algae.

Certain hopes in this matter are also placed on some types of mold, but so far all developments remain at the level of theory, since sooner or later they face significant difficulties.

Venus - the planet of the solar system is truly mysterious. The studies carried out answered a lot of questions related to it, and at the same time gave rise to new ones, in some ways even more complex. The morning star is one of the few cosmic bodies that bears a female name, and, like a beautiful girl, it attracts glances, occupies the thoughts of scientists, and therefore it is likely that researchers will still tell us a lot of interesting things about our neighbor.

Every student knows about the existence of the planet Venus in the solar system. Not everyone will remember that it is the closest to the Earth and the second from the Sun. Well, only a few will be able to name more or less accurately the period of revolution of Venus around the Sun. Let's try to close this knowledge gap.

Venus - the planet of paradoxes

It's worth starting with a brief description of the planet. Closer to the Sun in our system is only Mercury. But it is Venus that is closest to the Earth - at some moments the distance between them is only 42 million kilometers. By space standards, this is quite a bit.

Yes, and in size, the neighboring planets are quite similar - the length of the equator of Venus is 95% of the same indicator for the Earth.

But in the rest, continuous differences begin. To begin with, Venus is the only planet in the solar system that has a reverse or retrograde rotation around its axis. That is, the Sun here does not rise in the east and sets in the west, as on all other planets, but vice versa. Very unusual and unusual!

Length of the year

Now let's talk about the period of revolution of Venus around the Sun - it is almost 225 days, or, more precisely, 224.7. Yes, that's how long it takes the planet to make a complete revolution around the sun - 140 days more than it takes the Earth. No wonder - the farther the planet is from the Sun, the longer the year there.

But the speed of the planet in space is quite high - 35 kilometers per second! In one hour it travels 126,000 kilometers. Just imagine the distance that it travels in a year, given the sidereal period of Venus' revolution around the Sun!

When the day is longer than the year

Speaking about the period for which Venus makes a complete revolution around the nearest star, it is worth noting its period of revolution around its own axis, that is, a day.

This period is really impressive. It takes the planet 243 days to make just one revolution around its axis. Just imagine these days - longer than a year!

It is because of this that the inhabitants of Venus, if they existed there (the existence of at least some life is very doubtful because of the features that we will talk about a little later), would find themselves in an unusual position.

The fact is that on Earth the change of time of day occurs due to the rotation of the planet around its axis. Still, a day here lasts 24 hours, and a year is more than 365 days. On Venus, the opposite is true. Here, the time of day depends more on exactly where the planet is in its orbit. Yes, this is what affects which parts of the planet will be illuminated by a hot star, and which will remain in the shade. Because of this state of affairs, it would be very difficult to live by the clock here - midnight would sometimes fall in the morning or evening, and at noon the sun would not always be at its zenith.

Unfriendly planet

Now you know what is the period of revolution of the planet Venus around the Sun. You can tell more about her.

For many years, science fiction writers, relying on scientists' assertion that Venus is almost the size of Earth, have inhabited it in their works with a variety of creatures. Alas, in the middle of the twentieth century, all these fantasies collapsed. The latest data have proven that at least something can hardly survive here.

Start at least with the winds. Even the most monstrous hurricanes of the Earth will seem like a light pleasant breeze in comparison. The speed of the hurricane is about 33 meters per second. And on Venus, almost without stopping, the wind blows up to 100 meters per second! Not a single terrestrial object would have resisted such pressure.

The atmosphere is also not very rosy. It is completely unsuitable for breathing, as it consists of 97% carbon dioxide. Oxygen is either absent here, or present in the smallest volume. Besides, the pressure here is simply monstrous. On the surface of the planet, the density of the atmosphere is approximately 67 kg per cubic meter. Because of this, stepping on Venus, a person would immediately feel (if he had time) the same pressure as in the sea at a depth of almost a kilometer!

And the temperature here is absolutely not conducive to a pleasant pastime. During the day, the surface of the planet and the air warms up to about 467 degrees Celsius. This is much more than the temperature of Mercury, the distance from which to the Sun is half that from Venus! This is easily explained by the extremely dense atmosphere and the greenhouse effect created by the high concentration of carbon dioxide. On Mercury, the heat from the hot surface simply evaporates into outer space. Here, the dense atmosphere simply does not allow him to leave, which leads to such extreme indicators. Even at night, which lasts four Earth months, it becomes only 1-2 degrees cooler here. And all because of the fact that greenhouse gases do not allow heat to escape.

Conclusion

This is where the article can end. Now you know the period of revolution of Venus around the Sun, as well as other features of this amazing planet. Surely this will significantly expand your horizons in the field of astronomy.