Health & Fitness
Venus, Earth’s Sister Planet?
Venus is the Roman goddess of love and the second planet from the Sun. In some ways, Venus is more like Earth than any of the other planets. In other ways, it couldn’t be more different. For many years people thought Venus was like a tropical jungle. This was more fiction than science but the theory was that Venus was much like Earth and closer to the Sun - so it was warmer than the Earth. Since it was cloud covered the thought was that the clouds were water vapor and Venus was warm and wet like a tropical jungle. This turned out to be very wrong.
Venus is the planet closest in distance to Earth and closest in size to Earth. It is sometimes called Earth’s sister planet. Venus is one of the 4 terrestrial planets – made up mostly of rock and metals like Mercury, Earth and Mars. It has about 95% the diameter of Earth, about 79% the mass of Earth and about 90% the gravity of Earth. So it would seem to be very Earth-like but in reality, not so much.
Venus is about 28% closer to the Sun than the Earth is. It has a very dense atmosphere (92 times more dense than Earth’s atmosphere) and the average temperature on Venus is 863 degrees Fahrenheit. Being closer to the Sun is partly why Venus is hotter than Earth but the main reason is its clouds. Venus is completely cloud covered. We can’t visually see its surface. These clouds and dense atmosphere create a greenhouse effect where much of the solar energy reaching the surface is retained in the atmosphere making Venus hotter as time goes by. The clouds reflect about 90% of the Sun’s light away from Venus but the 10% that gets through helps to heat the planet. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (97%) and the clouds are made of sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid. Earth’s atmosphere is mostly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%), with small amounts of argon and carbon dioxide and the clouds are water vapor. Although we worry about a greenhouse effect on Earth causing global warming, Venus is way beyond us with a runaway greenhouse effect causing extreme heat. The average temperature at the surface of Venus is hot enough to melt lead. Not a very friendly place.
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Since Venus is completely cloud covered you can’t visually see its surface, even with a telescope. The clouds reflect most of the sunlight reaching Venus so it appears very bright to us on Earth. Venus is the 2nd brightest object in our night sky (the Moon being the brightest). Venus appears just before nightfall or just before sunrise as it is closer to the Sun than Earth. It is often called the Evening Star or the Morning Star. During March it will be visible just before dawn. With your naked eye Venus appears to be a very bright star. So bright that it is often mistaken for a UFO. There are many famous (and a bit funny) stories of Venus being mistaken for an alien spacecraft. If someone thinks they saw an alien spacecraft it’s a pretty good bet it was Venus, or maybe Jupiter.
One unusual feature of Venus is that it goes through phases like our Moon. The phases cannot be seen with the naked eye. Viewing it through a telescope it looks like a white disc but the disc waxes and wanes over time just like the Moon. This is because it is closer to the Sun than we are and the angle at which we see it in relation to the Sun creates the phases.
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On very rare occasions, Venus can be seen from Earth crossing in front of the Sun. This is called a Transit of Venus where Venus lines up directly between the Earth and the Sun, and Venus can be seen against the Sun as a small black disc. You would need a telescope and a special solar filter to view the transit. The last transit was in June 2012 but the next one isn’t until December 2117. I managed to see the last one for only a few minutes from Jones Beach as it was a cloudy and rainy day. Don’t think I’ll be around to see the next one.
Venus:
http://www.souledout.org/nightsky/venusphases/venusphases.html
Venus as UFO:
Sidewalk Astronomy in Lynbrook (Facebook Page):
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sidewalk-Astronomy-in-Lynbrook/133963613371631
