10 interesting facts about the planet Venus. Why is Venus the most mysterious planet? The composition and surface of the planet Venus

Venus is the second planet from the sun in the solar system, named after the Roman goddess of love. It is one of the brightest objects on the celestial sphere, the "morning star" that appears in the sky at dawn and dusk. Venus is similar to Earth in many ways, but not at all as friendly as it seems from afar. The conditions on it are completely unsuitable for the emergence of life. The surface of the planet is hidden from us by an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid, which create the strongest greenhouse effect. The opacity of the clouds does not allow us to study Venus in detail, therefore it still remains one of the most mysterious planets for us.

a brief description of

Venus revolves around the Sun at a distance of 108 million km, and this value is almost constant, since the planet's orbit is almost perfectly circular. At the same time, the distance to the Earth changes significantly - from 38 to 261 million km. The radius of Venus is on average 6052 km, the density is 5.24 g / cm³ (dense than the earth). The mass is equal to 82% of the mass of the Earth - 5 10 24 kg. The acceleration of gravity is also close to the earth's - 8.87 m / s². Venus has no satellites, but until the 18th century, repeated attempts were made to search for them, which were unsuccessful.

The planet makes a full circle in orbit in 225 days, and the day on Venus is the longest in the entire solar system: they last as much as 243 days, longer than the Venusian year. Venus moves in orbit at a speed of 35 km/s. The inclination of the orbit to the plane of the ecliptic is quite significant - 3.4 degrees. The axis of rotation is almost perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, due to which the northern and southern hemispheres are illuminated by the Sun almost equally, and there is no change of seasons on the planet. Another feature of Venus is that the directions of its rotation and circulation do not coincide, unlike other planets. It is assumed that this is due to a powerful collision with a large celestial body that changed the orientation of the axis of rotation.

Venus is classified as a terrestrial planet, and is also called the sister of the Earth because of the similarity in size, mass and composition. But the conditions on Venus can hardly be called similar to those on Earth. Its atmosphere, composed mainly of carbon dioxide, is the densest of all planets of the same type. Atmospheric pressure is 92 times greater than the earth's. Thick clouds of sulfuric acid envelop the surface. For visible radiation, they are opaque, even from artificial satellites, which for a long time made it difficult to see what was under them. Only radar methods for the first time made it possible to study the relief of the planet, since the Venusian clouds turned out to be transparent to radio waves. It was found that there are many traces of volcanic activity on the surface of Venus, but no active volcanoes were found. There are very few craters, which speaks of the "youth" of the planet: its age is about 500 million years.

Education

Venus is very different from other planets in the solar system in terms of its conditions and features of movement. And it is still impossible to answer the question, what is the reason for such uniqueness. First of all, whether it is the result of natural evolution or geochemical processes due to proximity to the Sun.

According to a single hypothesis of the origin of the planets in our system, they all arose from a giant protoplanetary nebula. Due to this, the composition of all atmospheres was the same for a long time. After some time, only the cold giant planets were able to retain the most common elements - hydrogen and helium. From the planets closer to the Sun, these substances were actually "blown away" into outer space, and heavier elements - metals, oxides and sulfides - entered their composition. The atmospheres of the planets were formed primarily due to volcanic activity, and their initial composition depended on the composition of volcanic gases in the depths.

Atmosphere

Venus has a very powerful atmosphere that hides its surface from direct observation. Most of it consists of carbon dioxide (96%), 3% is nitrogen, and even less other substances - argon, water vapor and others. In addition, clouds of sulfuric acid are present in a large volume in the atmosphere, and it is they that make it opaque to visible light, but infrared, microwave and radio radiation pass through them. The atmosphere of Venus is 90 times more massive than Earth's, and also much hotter - its temperature is 740 K. The reason for this heating (more than on the surface of Mercury, which is closer to the Sun) lies in the greenhouse effect that occurs due to the high density of carbon dioxide - the main component atmosphere. The height of the Venusian atmosphere is about 250-350 km.

The atmosphere of Venus constantly and very rapidly circulates and rotates. Its rotation period is many times less than that of the planet itself - only 4 days. The wind speed is also huge - about 100 m / s in the upper layers, which is much more than on Earth. However, at low altitudes, the movement of winds is significantly weakened and reaches only about 1 m/s. Powerful anticyclones are formed at the poles of the planet - polar vortices having an S-shape.

Like the earth, the Venusian atmosphere consists of several layers. The lower layer - the troposphere - is the densest (99% of the total mass of the atmosphere) and extends to an average height of 65 km. Due to the high surface temperature, the lower part of this layer is the hottest in the atmosphere. The wind speed here is also low, but with increasing altitude it increases, while the temperature and pressure decrease, and at an altitude of about 50 km they are already approaching the earth's values. It is in the troposphere that the greatest circulation of clouds and winds is observed, and weather phenomena are observed - whirlwinds, hurricanes rushing at great speed, and even lightning that strikes here twice as often as on Earth.

Between the troposphere and the next layer - the mesosphere - there is a thin boundary - the tropopause. Here the conditions are most similar to those on the earth's surface: the temperature is from 20 to 37 ° C, and the pressure is approximately the same as at sea level.

The mesosphere occupies heights from 65 to 120 km. Its lower part has an almost constant temperature of 230 K. At an altitude of about 73 km, a cloud layer begins, and here the temperature of the mesosphere gradually decreases with a height of up to 165 K. At about an altitude of 95 km, the mesopause begins, and here the atmosphere again begins to heat up to values ​​of the order of 300 400 K. The temperature is the same for the overlying thermosphere, which extends to the upper boundaries of the atmosphere. It should be noted that, depending on the illumination of the surface of the planet by the Sun, the temperatures of the layers on the day and night sides differ significantly: for example, daytime values ​​for the thermosphere are about 300 K, and nighttime values ​​are only about 100 K. In addition, Venus also has an extended ionosphere at altitudes 100 - 300 km.

At an altitude of 100 km in the atmosphere of Venus there is an ozone layer. The mechanism of its formation is similar to that of the earth.

There is no intrinsic magnetic field on Venus, but there is an induced magnetosphere formed by streams of ionized particles of the solar wind, bringing with them the magnetic field of the star, frozen into the coronal matter. The lines of force of the induced magnetic field, as it were, flow around the planet. But due to the absence of its own field, the solar wind freely penetrates into its atmosphere, provoking its outflow through the magnetospheric tail.

The dense and opaque atmosphere practically does not allow sunlight to reach the surface of Venus, so its illumination is very low.

Structure

Photo from an interplanetary spacecraft

Information about the relief and internal structure of Venus has become available relatively recently thanks to the development of radar. Surveys of the planet in the radio range made it possible to create a map of its surface. It is known that more than 80% of the surface is filled with basaltic lava, and this suggests that the modern relief of Venus is formed mainly by volcanic eruptions. Indeed, there are a lot of volcanoes on the surface of the planet, especially small ones, with a diameter of about 20 kilometers and a height of 1.5 km. Whether any of them are active, at the moment it is impossible to say. There are much fewer craters on Venus than on other terrestrial planets, since the dense atmosphere prevents most celestial bodies from penetrating through it. In addition, spacecraft have discovered hills up to 11 km high on the surface of Venus, occupying about 10% of the entire area.

A single model of the internal structure of Venus has not been developed to this day. According to the most probable of them, the planet consists of a thin crust (about 15 km), a mantle more than 3000 km thick and a massive iron-nickel core in the center. The absence of a magnetic field on Venus can be explained by the absence of moving charged particles in the core. This means that the core of the planet is solid, since there is no movement of matter in it.

Observation

Since of all the planets Venus comes closest to the Earth and is therefore the most visible in the sky, it will not be difficult to observe it. It is visible to the naked eye even in the daytime, but at night or at dusk, Venus appears before the eyes as the brightest "star" in the celestial sphere with a magnitude of -4.4 m. Thanks to such an impressive brightness, the planet can be observed through a telescope even during the day.

Like Mercury, Venus does not move far from the Sun. The maximum angle of its deviation is 47 °. It is most convenient to observe it shortly before sunrise or immediately after sunset, when the Sun is still below the horizon and does not interfere with observation with its bright light, and the sky is still not dark enough for the planet to shine too brightly. Since the details on the disk of Venus are barely perceptible during observations, it is necessary to use a high-quality telescope. And even in it, most likely, only a grayish circle without any details. However, under good conditions and high-quality equipment, sometimes you can still see dark bizarre shapes and white spots formed by atmospheric clouds. Binoculars are useful only for finding Venus in the sky and its simplest observations.

The atmosphere on Venus was discovered by M.V. Lomonosov during its passage across the solar disk in 1761.

Venus, like the Moon and Mercury, has phases. This is due to the fact that its orbit is closer to the Sun than the Earth's, and therefore, when the planet is between the Earth and the Sun, only part of its disk is visible.

The tropopause zone in the atmosphere of Venus, due to conditions similar to those on Earth, is being considered for placement of research stations there and even for colonization.

Venus has no satellites, but for a long time there was a hypothesis according to which it was previously Mercury, but due to some external catastrophic impact, it left its gravitational field and became an independent planet. In addition, Venus has a quasi-satellite - an asteroid whose orbit of rotation around the Sun is such that it does not get out of the influence of the planet for a long time.

In June 2012, the last transit of Venus across the solar disk in this century took place, which was completely observed in the Pacific Ocean and almost throughout Russia. The last passage was observed in 2004, and earlier ones in the 19th century.

Because of the many similarities to our planet, life on Venus was considered possible for a long time. But since it became known about the composition of its atmosphere, the greenhouse effect and other climatic conditions, it is obvious that such terrestrial life on this planet is impossible.

Venus is one of the candidates for terraforming - changing the climate, temperature and other conditions on the planet in order to make it habitable for terrestrial organisms. First of all, for this it will be necessary to deliver enough water to Venus to start the process of photosynthesis. It is also necessary to make the temperature on the surface significantly lower. To do this, it is necessary to negate the greenhouse effect by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, which could be handled by cyanobacteria, which would need to be sprayed into the atmosphere.

Astronomy is one of the most fascinating sciences that has interested both scientists and ordinary people at all times. Particular attention has always attracted the planets of the solar system, including Venus. After all, this celestial body, which is in second place from the Sun, is rightfully called the “sister” of the Earth - it has dimensions, weight, gravity, and density of matter similar to our planet.

Atmosphere

One of the most interesting facts about Venus is that there is a very big difference between the Earth and this planet. Venus is a planet with a very strong greenhouse effect. And this circumstance makes it absolutely unsuitable for human life. It is unlikely that any of the living beings could stay for a long time on the surface of the planet. After all, the pressure on Venus is extremely high.

Even a spaceship would need special shielding equipment just to survive. This atmosphere contains carbon dioxide, as well as impurities of sulfuric acid. This whole cocktail is deadly for any living creature. True, the upper atmospheric layers are characterized by moderation. Approximately at an altitude of 50 km. from the density and pressure of the atmosphere become similar to the earth. Atmospheric pressure on Venus is 90 times that of Earth.

planet brightness

Another interesting fact about Venus: this planet is so bright that it often becomes a “source of new data” about UFOs. As a rule, such an illusion occurs during the period of its visibility in the evening. It is during this period that Venus becomes most visible - immediately after the Sun sets behind the horizon. Venus can be observed even through the clouds of the twilight sky, until the moment when the rest of the stars appear. This spectacle is very impressive and is of particular interest to every astronomy enthusiast: passing clouds create the appearance of a bright celestial body that is flying in the opposite direction.

Clouds are the reason for the shine

Why is "sister Earth" so bright? Scientists give an answer to this question: the fact is that it is covered with white clouds. They reflect about 60% of all the sun's rays that hit the surface of Venus back into space. The layer of clouds around the planet consists mainly of vapors of concentrated sulfuric acid. Clouds move in the direction from east to west, and make a complete revolution around the axis of the planet in 4 days. The illumination on the surface of the planet itself resembles that of the earth on a bad day. To measure and compare the brightness of stars, astronomers use the visible scale. According to this scale, the brightness of Venus is 4.

Lack of satellites

One of the most interesting facts about Venus is that this planet has neither moons nor rings. And this circumstance equalizes the planet with its "comrade in misfortune" - Mercury. Every other planet in the solar system has at least one moon. The reason for this has not yet been unraveled by astronomers. Modern researchers can only compare the characteristics of different planets, as well as their features.

active volcanoes

This is one of the interesting facts about Venus, which is known to everyone who is seriously interested in the science of celestial bodies. Scientists have discovered lava flows on the surface of the planet, which are direct evidence that there have been many eruptions over the past 100 years. Scientists also claim that volcanoes on the surface of Venus began to show activity for 1.5 billion years. In 2010, researchers reported that they had detected infrared radiation from three regions of the planet - it is there, according to their assumptions, that volcanic activity occurs.

"Electric Dragon of Venus"

Until 1980, scientists did not have information that lightning could be on any other planets besides the Earth. However, studies have shown that in the atmosphere of the planet, lightning strikes twice as often as in the earth. It was this phenomenon that scientists gave the original name - "the electric dragon of Venus." An interesting fact: for the first time this phenomenon was recorded using the Venera-2 device, and at first it was discovered as interference in a television broadcast.

Hell on the surface of the planet

Venus is the hottest in the entire solar system due to dense clouds covering it. The temperature on its surface can reach 470 o C. Moreover, there are no daily drops on the planet. The temperature is also the same at the equator and at the poles. When the Sun was not so bright, Venus was much colder. On its surface were entire oceans of liquid water. Gradually, it evaporated, more and more contributing to the establishment of the greenhouse effect. Astronomers were able to find out a lot of interesting facts about the planet Venus regarding the past of the planet. Within a million years, it completely dissipated into the space of space. As the temperature on the planet's surface increased, more and more carbon dioxide was released. This led to overheating.

Interesting facts about the planet Venus for children

Not so long ago - back in the 50s of the last century - scientists believed that life could well exist on the surface of this planet. But only with the development of science and technology it became clear that the conditions on Venus are not compatible with any form of existence. What other features have scientists learned about this planet? Interesting facts about Venus for children and adults are presented in the following list:

1. One day on this planet lasts longer than a year on Earth. Venus completes a full rotation around its axis in more than 200 Earth days.
2. Venus rotates clockwise around its axis. Unlike other planets that rotate against.
3. The force of gravity on the planet is less than the earth. Astronomers suggest that this fact may be due to the fact that Venus does not have such a large core as the Earth.
4. Not a single ray of sunlight can reach the surface of the planet. Acid rain pours on Venus all year round, strong winds blow.
5. Not a single meteorite crater can be found on the surface of Venus. It is assumed that the entire planet is completely covered with volcanoes. Lava flows are constantly erupting from them, which prevents the formation of traces from meteorites that have fallen to the surface of the planet.

Venus is the second planet from the sun and a neighbor of our planet Earth. For a long time they were compared with each other and called the most similar in the solar system, but when serious equipment appeared and the opportunity to explore, this was immediately forgotten. After all, Venus literally burns, being incredibly hot, and also contains incredible chaos, which rises from the very crust of the earth to the end of the atmosphere. It significantly hinders the exploration of the planet, along the way, excluding any, even the most minimal life. Interesting facts about the planet Venus we put together in one list.

1. One year on the planet is equal to 225 days on Earth, and the concept of day and night is very specific here. The Venusian day has a duration of 243 days.

2. An interesting fact for children about Venus may be its minimal difference from our monastery. It is only 640 kilometers in diameter smaller than the Earth, and inferior in mass by 20%.

3. The increased temperature here is due to the greenhouse effect, which in turn provides a huge amount of clouds through which light does not penetrate. Because of this, the sun is not visible from the fiery abode itself.

4. An interesting fact about Venus - in addition to everything else, there are also powerful winds. They drive the clouds so fast that they go full circle over the planet in just five Earth days.

5. For the first time, it was possible to land a drone for research, so that it was not destroyed during the landing and passage of the atmosphere, only in 1970.

6. Undoubtedly, it is the hottest in the solar system, despite the fact that Mercury is much closer to the sun. The temperature here is around 470 degrees.

7. Among the interesting facts about the planet Venus is the absence of satellites. Only she and Mercury do not have them at all.

8. The entire crust of the planet is dotted with meteorite craters, volcanoes and mountains. Moreover, the latter reach a height of up to 12 kilometers, and the craters, in turn, always exceed 2 kilometers in diameter, because small particles cannot pass through the hostile atmosphere of the planet. Only giants can handle it. But what we managed to find out is that thanks to constantly active volcanoes, the traces from the falls of cosmic bodies gradually smooth out and disappear, as if the fiery abode heals itself.

9. There is no water on the planet, not a single drop, but at the same time rains are possible here, although they consist entirely of caustic sulfur.

10. An interesting fact for children about the planet Venus - it can be seen from Earth. It looks like a very bright star, but if you use a telescope, you can see a kind of moon, because it, like our satellite, either appears in the form of a crescent, then grows and increases, being at the maximum distance from us.

11. All planets in the solar system rotate counterclockwise, but not Venus. She is an exception, because the circle is hourly.

12. Thanks to the albedo effect, the planet is incredibly bright. We can only see the Moon and the Sun brighter than it, but in comparison with any other star in the sky, it is more powerful.

13. Before the Soviet satellite landed on the planet, hidden by thick clouds, Venus spawned all sorts of theories about what is hiding behind them. Many writers and scientists believed that clouds are the cause of high humidity and there is probably life on the planet, beautiful forests and fields. But in fact, we got several kilometers of lava flows and endless rocky deserts.

What interesting facts about the planet Venus are known to modern science? Scientists know quite a lot about the neighbor of the Earth, located closer to the Sun. Here are 15 entertaining, but little-known information to a wide audience.

1. The distance between Venus and Earth is not constant, since the speed of movement of both planets around the Sun is different. The frequency with which the maximum distance and convergence is 584 days. The smallest distance to Venus is 38 million km, the largest is 261 million km.
2. The planet, along with the Sun and the Moon, is one of the three brightest objects, thanks to which it is clearly visible from Earth. 263 days Venus is observed in the morning on the eve of sunrise. Then it approaches the Sun, which is why it is not visible for 50 days. For the next 263 days, the planet appears first after sunset, and then again disappears from view for 8 days.
3. The unstable appearance of Venus in the sky at one time led to confusion: ancient astronomers mistakenly thought that these were two planets. The celestial body that appears in the morning, the Greeks called Phosphorus, and the evening object - Heperus. When it became clear that this is one planet, she was given a name in honor of the Roman goddess of beauty and love.
4. A star on Venus and Uranus rises in the west and sets in the east. This is explained by the fact that the planets move around the axis retrograde (clockwise).
5. Since Venus rotates very slowly, the day there is longer than the year.. A Venusian day is equal to 243 days on Earth. A year on the planet lasts 225 Earth days and has no seasons.
6. Venus is much hotter than Mercury, the Sun's closest neighbor.. This is due to the greenhouse effect caused by large clouds and a dense atmosphere.
7. Venusian climate conditions unsuitable for life. Winds are constantly blowing on the planet and acid rains are falling. The average temperature both during the day and at night is 462 °C. The sky on the planet is covered with a cloudy veil and has a yellow-green color.
8. Scientists call Venus and Earth twins, since the planets are similar in a number of parameters: in size, volume, density, basic chemical composition. The force of gravity on the neighboring planet is slightly less than Earth's: a 70-kilogram person would weigh 62 kg there.
9. Venus has a weak magnetic field and a powerful atmospheric pressure that is 93 times Earth's.. In addition, it does not have natural satellites, but there is a quasi-satellite - asteroid 2002 VE68.
10. Billions of years ago there was a lot of water on the planet That's what geologists think. The life-giving moisture evaporated 300 million years ago due to an increase in the intensity of solar radiation. Now the water, which is present only in the atmosphere, is so small that, if collected, it would hardly cover the surface of the planet with a thin layer.
11. 500 million years ago, the surface of the planet was updated during increased volcanic activity. Planetologists, relying on indirect evidence, believe that volcanoes there (and there are about 1.5 thousand of them) are erupting even now. There are about 900 craters on the planet with a diameter of more than 1.5 km. There are no smaller depressions, since Venus is protected from small meteorites by a dense atmosphere.
12. For centuries, scientists thought that Venus had oceans and tropical vegetation. The first real ideas about the planet were obtained in the 60s of the last century..
13. For half a century, it was explored by two dozen spacecraft. The first among them to reach the surface of the planet is Venera-3. The apparatus was launched by Soviet scientists on November 16, 1965.
14. The first color photograph from the planet appeared on March 1, 82. At the same time, as part of the mission of the Venera-13 spacecraft, the first sound recording was made on the surface.
15. In 2004 on June 8 and 2012 on June 5–6, earthlings witnessed the transit of Venus across the disk of the Sun- a rare astronomical phenomenon observed once a century. The next time the passage of the planet will take place in 2117.

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Venus- the second planet of the solar system: mass, size, distance from the Sun and planets, orbit, composition, temperature, interesting facts, history of research.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the hottest planet in the solar system. For ancient people, Venus was a constant companion. It is an evening star and the brightest neighbor, which has been observed for thousands of years after the recognition of planetary nature. That is why it appears in mythology and was noted in many cultures and peoples. With each century, interest has grown, and these observations have helped to understand the structure of our system. Before proceeding with the description and characterization, find out interesting facts about Venus.

Interesting facts about the planet Venus

A day lasts longer than a year

• The rotation axis (sidereal day) takes 243 days, and the orbital path covers 225 days. A sunny day lasts 117 days.

Rotates in the opposite direction

• Venus is retrograde, which means it rotates in the opposite direction. Perhaps in the past there was a collision with a large asteroid. It also lacks satellites.

Second brightest in the sky

• For an earthly observer, only the Moon is brighter than Venus. With a magnitude of -3.8 to -4.6, the planet is so bright that it occasionally shows up in the middle of the day.

Atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of the earth

• Although they are similar in size, the surface of Venus is not as cratered as the thick atmosphere obliterates incoming asteroids. The pressure on its surface is comparable to what is felt at great depths.

Venus is an earthly sister

• The difference in their diameters is 638 km, and the mass of Venus reaches 81.5% of the Earth's. Also converge in structure.

Called the Morning and Evening Star

• Ancient people believed that they had two different objects in front of them: Lucifer and Vesper (among the Romans). The fact is that its orbit overtakes the earth's and the planet appears at night or during the day. It was described in detail by the Maya in 650 BC.

hottest planet

• The temperature indicator of the planet rises to 462 ° C. Venus is not endowed with a remarkable axial tilt, therefore it is devoid of seasonality. The dense atmospheric layer is represented by carbon dioxide (96.5%) and retains heat, creating a greenhouse effect.

The study ended in 2015

• In 2006, the Venus Express apparatus was sent to the planet, which entered its orbit. Initially, the mission covered 500 days, but then it was extended until 2015. He managed to find more than a thousand volcanoes and volcanic centers with a length of 20 km.

The first mission belonged to the USSR

• In 1961, the Soviet probe Venera-1 set off for Venus, but contact was quickly cut off. The same thing happened to the American Mariner 1. In 1966, the USSR managed to lower the first apparatus (Venus-3). This helped to see the surface hidden behind a dense acid haze. It was possible to advance in research with the advent of radiographic mapping in the 1960s. It is believed that in the past the planet had oceans that evaporated due to rising temperatures.

Size, mass and orbit of the planet Venus

There are many similarities between Venus and the Earth, so the neighbor is often called the sister of the Earth. By mass - 4.8866 x 10 24 kg (81.5% of the earth), surface area - 4.60 x 10 8 km 2 (90%), and volume - 9.28 x 10 11 km 3 (86.6%).

The distance from the Sun to Venus reaches 0.72 AU. e. (108,000,000 km), and the world is practically devoid of eccentricity. Its aphelion reaches 108,939,000 km, and its perihelion reaches 107,477,000 km. So we can assume that this is the most circular orbital path among all the planets. The bottom photo successfully demonstrated a comparison of the sizes of Venus and the Earth.

When Venus is located between us and the Sun, it comes closest to the Earth of all planets - 41 million km. This happens once every 584 days. It spends 224.65 days on the orbital path (61.5% of the Earth).

Venus is not quite a standard planet and stands out to many. If almost all the planets in order in the solar system rotate counterclockwise, then Venus does it clockwise. In addition, the process is slow and one of its days covers 243 earth. It turns out that the sidereal day is longer than the planetary year.

The composition and surface of the planet Venus

It is believed that the internal structure resembles that of the earth with a core, mantle and crust. The core must be at least partially in a liquid state, because both planets cooled almost simultaneously.

But plate tectonics speaks volumes. The crust of Venus is too strong, which led to a decrease in heat loss. Perhaps this was the reason for the absence of an internal magnetic field. Study the structure of Venus in the figure.

The creation of the surface was influenced by volcanic activity. There are approximately 167 large volcanoes on the planet (more than on Earth), whose height exceeds 100 km. Their presence is based on the absence of tectonic movement, which is why we are looking at the ancient crust. Its age is estimated at 300-600 million years.

It is believed that volcanoes can still spew lava. Soviet missions, as well as ESA observations, confirmed the presence of lightning storms in the atmospheric layer. There is no usual precipitation on Venus, so lightning can be created by a volcano.

Also, a periodic increase / decrease in the amount of sulfur dioxide was noted, which speaks in favor of eruptions. The IR view captures the appearance of hot spots hinting at lava. It can be seen that the surface ideally preserves craters, of which there are approximately 1000. They can reach 3-280 km in diameter.

You will not find smaller craters, because small asteroids simply burn up in a dense atmosphere. To reach the surface, it is necessary to exceed 50 meters in diameter.

Atmosphere and temperature of the planet Venus

Viewing the surface of Venus was previously extremely difficult, because the view was blocked by an incredibly dense atmospheric haze, represented by carbon dioxide with small impurities of nitrogen. The pressure is 92 bar, and the atmospheric mass exceeds the earth's by 93 times.

Let's not forget that Venus is the hottest among the solar planets. The average is 462°C, which is consistently held night and day. It's all about the presence of a huge amount of CO 2 , which forms a powerful greenhouse effect with clouds of sulfur dioxide.

The surface is isothermal (does not affect the distribution or changes in temperature at all). The minimum axis tilt is 3°, which also prevents the appearance of seasons. Changes in temperature are observed only with height.

It is worth noting that the temperature at the highest point of Mount Maxwell reaches 380 ° C, and atmospheric pressure - 45 bar.

If you find yourself on the planet, you will immediately encounter powerful wind currents, whose acceleration reaches 85 km / s. They go around the entire planet in 4-5 days. In addition, dense clouds can form lightning.

Atmosphere of Venus

Astronomer Dmitry Titov about the temperature regime on the planet, clouds of sulfuric acid and the greenhouse effect:

History of the study of the planet Venus

People in ancient times knew about its existence, but mistakenly believed that there were two different objects in front of them: morning and evening stars. It is worth noting that they officially began to perceive Venus as a single object in the 6th century BC. e., but as early as 1581 BC. e. there was a Babylonian tablet, which clearly explained the true nature of the planet.

For many, Venus has become the personification of the goddess of love. The Greeks named after Aphrodite, and for the Romans, the morning appearance became Lucifer.

In 1032, Avicenna first observed the passage of Venus in front of the Sun and realized that the planet is located closer to the Earth than the Sun. In the 12th century, Ibn Bajai found two black spots, which were later explained by the transits of Venus and Mercury.

In 1639 Jeremiah Horrocks oversaw the transit. Galileo Galilei at the beginning of the 17th century used his instrument and noted the phases of the planet. This was an extremely important observation, which indicated that Venus went around the Sun, which means that Copernicus was right.

In 1761, Mikhail Lomonosov discovered the atmosphere on the planet, and in 1790 it was noted by Johann Schroeter.

The first serious observation was made by Chester Lyman in 1866. Around the dark side of the planet, a full ring of light was noted, which once again hinted at the presence of an atmosphere. The first UV survey was carried out in the 1920s.

Spectroscopic observations told about the features of rotation. Vesto Slifer tried to determine the Doppler shift. But when he failed, he began to suspect that the planet was rotating too slowly. Moreover, in the 1950s realized that we are dealing with retrograde rotation.

Radar was used in the 1960s. and received rotations close to modern indicators. Details like Mount Maxwell could be talked about thanks to the Arecibo Observatory.

Exploration of the planet Venus

For the study of Venus, scientists of the USSR actively began, who in the 1960s. sent several spaceships. The first mission ended unsuccessfully, as it did not even reach the planet.

The same thing happened with the American first attempt. But Mariner 2, sent in 1962, managed to pass at a distance of 34,833 km from the planetary surface. Observations confirmed the presence of high heat, which immediately ended all hopes for the existence of life.

The first apparatus on the surface was the Soviet Venera-3, which landed in 1966. But the information was never obtained, because the connection was immediately interrupted. In 1967, Venera-4 rushed. As it descended, the mechanism determined the temperature and pressure. But the batteries quickly ran out and communication was lost while he was still in the process of descending.

Mariner 10 flew at an altitude of 4000 km in 1967. He received information about the pressure, atmospheric density and composition of the planet.

In 1969, Venera 5 and 6 also arrived, which managed to transmit data in 50 minutes of descent. But Soviet scientists did not give up. Venera-7 crashed on the surface, but managed to transmit information for 23 minutes.

From 1972-1975 The USSR launched three more probes, which managed to get the first pictures of the surface.

Mariner 10 took more than 4,000 images on its way to Mercury. At the end of the 70s. NASA prepared two probes (Pioneers), one of which was to study the atmosphere and create a surface map, and the second to enter the atmosphere.

In 1985, the Vega program was launched, where the devices were supposed to explore Halley's comet and go to Venus. They dropped the probes, but the atmosphere turned out to be more turbulent and the mechanisms were blown away by powerful winds.

In 1989, Magellan went to Venus with his radar. He spent 4.5 years in orbit and displayed 98% of the surface and 95% of the gravitational field. In the end, he was sent to his death in the atmosphere to get density data.

Galileo and Cassini watched Venus fleetingly. And in 2007 they sent MESSENGER, which was able to make some measurements on the way to Mercury. The atmosphere and clouds were also monitored by the Venus Express probe in 2006. The mission ended in 2014.

The Japanese agency JAXA sent the Akatsuki probe in 2010, but it failed to reach orbit.

In 2013, NASA sent an experimental suborbital space telescope that studied UV light from the planet's atmosphere to accurately investigate Venus' watery history.

Also in 2018, ESA may launch the BepiColombo project. There are also rumors about the Venus In-Situ Explorer project, which could start in 2022. Its purpose is to study the characteristics of regolith. Russia can also send the Venera-D spacecraft in 2024, which they plan to lower to the surface.

Due to the proximity to us, as well as the similarity in certain parameters, there were those who expected to discover life on Venus. Now we know about her hellish hospitality. But there is an opinion that once it had water and a favorable atmosphere. Moreover, the planet is inside the habitable zone and has an ozone layer. Of course, the greenhouse effect led to the disappearance of water billions of years ago.

However, this does not mean that we cannot count on human colonies. The most suitable conditions are located at an altitude of 50 km. These will be air cities based on durable airships. Of course, all this is difficult to do, but these projects prove that we are still interested in this neighbor. In the meantime, we are forced to observe it at a distance and dream about future settlements. Now you know which planet Venus is. Be sure to follow the links to find out more interesting facts, and consider a map of the surface of Venus.

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