Mercury and Venus are the innermost planets and often appear before or after the Sun in the sky, shining brightly due to their thick atmospheres. Venus suffers because its solar energy is quickly converted to heat that radiates back out as light, making escape difficult. Furthermore, there are few old craters and no evidence of…
After space programs focused on human flight in low orbit and Mars, Venus was often overlooked. In 2005 however, European Mission Venus Express entered orbit. Venus was confirmed as being an Earth-like world with dry conditions and past oceans; furthermore, there was evidence of past oceanic circulation patterns as well as a double atmospheric vortex…
Scientists have long puzzled over why Venus appears to be such an unstable, polluted version of Earth. Today, NASA announced it had approved two missions to study this turbulent world. DAVINCI+ will examine the planet’s toxic atmosphere while VERITAS will map its surface and search for any sign that it once hosted water. Venera 1…
Mercury and Venus in alliance foster better communication skills and diplomacy while encouraging love, romance, and social charm. Check the evening twilight sky this week, looking out for Mercury as it rises over western landscape. Be careful that tall hills or houses do not obscure your view! Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun…
Rocket Lab will launch their Venus Life Finder probe aboard their Electron rocket. Their multipurpose spacecraft will be smaller and less expensive than NASA’s current Venus probes. VERITAS will be the first medium-class mission since Magellan in the 1990s to explore Venus. It will produce exquisite maps of this distant world. Sputnik 7 The spacecraft’s…
Before recently, Venus was considered a low priority planet to explore; however, the discovery of phosphine on Venus has reignited interest in this hellish realm. Ancients believed Venus had an environment similar to Earth with jungle-like foliage and carbonated oceans, but radio observations of brightness temperatures suggested otherwise – suggesting its surface must have been…
Soviet Venera 15 and 16 spacecraft collaborated for 8 months on an eight month mission, during which they used their autofluorescing nephelometers to blast clouds with ultraviolet light and cause their droplets to fluoresce, creating a radar map of Venus. Each spacecraft released a lander equipped with color cameras and instruments such as autofluorescing nephelometers…
Mercury and Venus, unlike most rocky planets in our Solar System, are typically not considered suitable places for life to exist; their harsh conditions make them unsuitable as candidates for life support systems. Yet engineers have created spacecraft capable of withstanding these inhospitable worlds’ harsh environment. Scientists have recently discovered that Venus’ atmosphere contains phosphine,…
What is the Planet Nearest to Earth? Venus or Mars come to mind when we think of planets nearby; their distance from the sun dictates which one ranks highest on their elliptical orbits. However, according to new analysis published by Physics Today, Mercury actually spends the most time near Earth. Venus Venus is the hottest…
