Top 10 interesting facts about Venus. Planet Venus: possible shelter or immediate danger What is Venus made of

Venus is the second farthest planet from the main star in the solar system. It is often called the "twin sister of the Earth", because it is almost identical to our planet in size and is its kind of neighbor, but otherwise it has many differences.

The celestial body is called named after the Roman goddess of fertility. In different languages, the translations of this word vary - there is such a meaning as "the grace of the gods", the Spanish "shell" and Latin - "love, charm, beauty." The only one of the planets of the solar system, she has earned the right to be called a beautiful female name due to the fact that in ancient times she was one of the brightest in the sky.

Dimensions and composition, nature of the soil

Venus is quite a bit smaller than our planet - its mass is 80% of the earth. More than 96% of it is carbon dioxide, the rest is nitrogen with a small amount of other compounds. According to its structure the atmosphere is dense, deep and very cloudy and consists mainly of carbon dioxide, so the surface is difficult to see due to a kind of "greenhouse effect". The pressure there is 85 times greater than ours. The composition of the surface in its density resembles the basalts of the Earth, but it itself extremely dry due to the total absence of liquid and high temperatures. The crust is 50 km thick and consists of silicate rocks.

Research scientists have shown that Venus has granite deposits along with uranium, thorium and potassium, as well as basalt rocks. The top layer of soil is close to the earth, and the surface is strewn with thousands of volcanoes.

Periods of rotation and circulation, change of seasons

The period of rotation around its axis of this planet is quite long and is approximately 243 of our days, exceeding the period of revolution around the Sun, it is equal to 225 Earth days. Thus, a Venusian day is longer than one Earth year - this is the longest day on all the planets of the solar system.

Another interesting feature - Venus, unlike other planets in the system, rotates in the opposite direction - from east to west. At the closest approach to the Earth, the cunning "neighbor" always turns only one side, in between having time to make 4 revolutions around its own axis.

The calendar turns out to be very unusual: the Sun rises in the west, sets in the east, and the change of seasons is practically absent due to too slow rotation around itself and constant “baking” from all sides.

Expeditions and satellites

The first spacecraft sent from Earth to Venus was the Soviet Venera 1, launched in February 1961, whose course could not be corrected and went far past. More successful was the flight made by the Mariner-2, lasting 153 days, and the ESA Venus Express orbital satellite passed as close as possible, launched in November 2005.

In the future, namely in 2020-2025, the US space agency plans to send a large-scale space expedition to Venus, which will have to get answers to many questions, in particular, concerning the disappearance of the oceans from the planet, geological activity, features of the local atmosphere and factors of its change. .

How much to fly to Venus and is it possible?

The main difficulty of flying to Venus is that it is difficult to tell the ship exactly where to go in order to reach the destination directly. You can move in transfer orbits of one planet to another, as if chasing her. Therefore, a small and inexpensive device will spend a significant part of the time on this. A human foot has not yet set foot on the planet, and it is unlikely that she will like this world of unbearable heat and strong wind. Is it just to fly past...

Concluding the report, we note one more interesting fact: today nothing is known about natural satellites ah Venus. Also, it does not have rings, but it shines so brightly that on a moonless night it is perfectly visible from the Earth inhabited by people.

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Planet Venus for children

According to ancient Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty.
Human weight on the planet Venus
Would you guys be interested to know how much each of you would weigh on this wonderful planet? On this page you will find answers to many questions. As for the weight, you will be surprised - it will remain almost the same as on Earth, since the sizes of our planets are approximately the same and if you had a weight of 70 pounds (32kg), then on Venus it will be equal to 63 pounds (29kg).

Planet Venus
For scientists around the world, the planet Venus remains the most uncertain of all the planets within our solar system. Having its own special atmosphere, several times greater than the density of the Earth's atmosphere, the planet is difficult to study. And yet, scientists have recently managed to “break through” through dense layers of clouds and photograph the surface of the planet. Faulty mountains and many volcanoes have been found on the surface of Venus. Despite their impregnability, scientists managed to learn many secrets of the planet and its secrets with the help of modern scientific and technical experiments and special devices. In the 70s of the last century in the Soviet Union, as our country used to be called, spacecraft were launched with a landing on the surface of a mysterious planet. And, despite the fact that the scientific probes managed to hold out for only a couple of hours, because there is intense heat, the scientists got good pictures for their scientific research. Then the probes fell into disrepair from the high temperature of the planet's surface.

Twin sister of our Earth
The composition of the planet Venus, its size, weight and density are identical with the same parameters of our planet.

Message about Venus

Simply put, Venus and Earth are sisters, because they are made of similar materials and are in almost equal proportions. On the surface of the planets are the same mountains, volcanoes, as well as sand. At the same time, being considered twin sisters, the planets are completely different in character. Venus is an evil twin in nature, since its hot surface is deadly to all living things. On its surface in a few minutes it would be possible to cook food. There is absolutely nowhere to hide from the heat on the planet. In addition, the planet has a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and is therefore considered highly toxic, not suitable for life.
Children about global warming
Scientists say that at first, as soon as it formed, the planet Venus was the same as ours. But under the influence of external forces acting in the Cosmos, after millions of years, its course changed, and it became closer to the Sun. The temperature on the planet is much higher than the earth's and water from its surface evaporates more strongly. The amount of vapor in the atmosphere increases, and greenhouse gases, by absorbing air, do not allow it to escape into space. Therefore, scientists talk about this as global warming on the planet, which cannot be stopped.

Distance from Sun to Venus

Which distance from Venus to the Sun? This is quite an interesting question. 108 million km is the average distance to the Sun. More precisely, it is 107 million km at perihelion and 109 million km at aphelion.

All planets move in an eccentric orbit. The higher the eccentricity value, the greater the distance between perihelion and aphelion. The orbital eccentricity of Venus is only 0.01. Mercury has the most eccentric orbit and an orbital eccentricity of 0.205 and fluctuates within 23 million km. There are many other interesting facts about Venus; some of them are listed below. Feel free to compare our data with NASA or visit the NASA website for other interesting facts not mentioned here.

A year on Venus is similar to Earth, and lasts 224.7 Earth days, but a day on Venus is actually very, very long.

Planet Venus

One day on the planet lasts about 117 Earth days. Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky, with a value of -4.6. Brighter only Moon. By the way, Venus rotates in the opposite direction. Why does the rotation and orbit not correspond to the direction of other planets?

Venus is often referred to as the sister Earth due to its similar size, gravity, and composition. The surface of Venus does not allow to see the reflective clouds of sulfuric acid surrounding the planet. In addition to reflecting visible light, Venus has the densest atmosphere in the solar system. Atmospheric pressure on the surface of the planet is 92 times higher than the earth.

Most of the planet's surface was formed as a result of volcanic processes. There are several times more volcanoes than on Earth, from 167 with a diameter of more than 100 km. This does not mean that Venus is more volcanically active than the Earth - just that its crust is older. The Earth's crust has an average age of about 100 million years, and the age of the surface of Venus is estimated to be 300-600 million years. Several probes have recorded evidence of lightning and thunder in Venus's atmosphere. Since there is no rain on Venus, most likely volcanic eruptions generated lightning.

It is easy to say what is the distance from Venus to the Sun, answering questions about the internal structure of the planet is impossible. While scientists know a lot about Venus, there are still many more mysteries to explore. Currently, Venus Express sends new data from the planet's orbit every day for study.

Venus It is a terrestrial planet, the second furthest from the Sun. It has similar dimensions to our planet, has approximately the same gravity, and is located in a neighboring orbit (closer to the Sun).

29 interesting facts about Venus

With all this in mind, Venus is often referred to as Earth's sister. A younger sister, because she is only about 500 million years old. It is noteworthy that this is the only planet that received its name in honor of a female deity.

Feature of Venus

Weight and size.
In terms of size, Venus is only slightly inferior to the Earth - its radius is 6052 km (this is about 95% of the Earth's).
It is also inferior in density, and therefore the masses of the planets differ a little more - the Earth is 19% heavier.

Orbit and rotation.
In its orbit, Venus moves at a speed of 35 km / s and makes a complete revolution around the Sun in 225 days. Quite acceptable.
But the planet rotates around its axis monstrously slowly - a complete revolution takes 243 days (a day lasts longer than a year!).

Structure and composition.
The core of the planet consists of iron and is in a solid state (this assumption was made, since Venus does not have a magnetic field, which means that there is no movement of charged particles in the core).
A relatively uniform silicate layer, the mantle, extends from the core to the very surface.
Well, the thickness of the crust is about 16 kilometers.

General information

Despite some similarities with our planet, Venus is also different in many ways.
For starters, this is a relief - it is very gloomy and deserted, it consists of slab-like rocks. There is no water on the surface. It is believed that it evaporated due to high temperatures (there used to be oceans on the surface).
It should also be noted that the planet has a huge atmospheric pressure - 92 times more than the earth!

Atmosphere.
The atmosphere is almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide - about 96%. Clouds of sulfuric acid hover in the air, completely hiding the surface of the planet.
At the same time, Venus is constantly losing oxygen and hydrogen (they simply evaporate into interstellar space), which is why the conditions on the planet are not getting better.

Climate.
Temperatures near the surface of the planet are very high - about +475 ° C. Among the planets of the solar system, Venus is the hottest. This is due to the atmosphere - it is very dense, and therefore creates a greenhouse effect.

- The atmosphere of Venus constantly revolves around the planet, at a speed of about 130 m/s. It is believed that she is involved in some huge hurricane. So far, it has not been possible to find another intelligible explanation for this phenomenon.
- The younger sister of the Earth has no satellites.
- You can see Venus from Earth with the naked eye immediately after sunset and before sunrise. In the sky, it is only slightly larger and brighter than the stars.

Named after the goddess of love, the planet Venus has always attracted the attention of people. Looking at the sky, Venus can be easily seen in the morning and evening hours (it does not rise high above the earth's horizon), but it is the brightest among the stars, its brightness is -4.4-4.8. Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun and the closest planet to Earth after Mercury. In many ways: diameter, mass, gravity and basic composition, Venus is very similar to our planet, only a little smaller. For some time it was believed that there is life there, as on our planet, with seas and oceans, with dry land and forests. It is classified as an earth-like planet. I would like to note that Venus has always been one of the most beloved planets of earthlings, which is why they endowed it with a beautiful female name, composed myths, poems and songs about it, comparing it with the most beautiful and mysterious images.

Basic information about Venus.

The radius of Venus is 6051.8 km.
Weight - 4.87 10²⁴kg.
Density - 5.25 g / cm³.
Free fall acceleration -8.87m/sec.
The second escape velocity is 10.46 km/s. The orbit is circular, the eccentricity is only 0.0068, the smallest among the planets of the solar system.
The distance from the planet to the Sun is 108.2 million km.
Distance to the Earth: 40 - 259 million km.
The period of revolution around the Sun (sidereal period) is 224.7 days, with an average orbital speed of 35.03 km / s.
Own rotation is equal to 243 Earth days.
The synodic period is 583.92 days.
Deviation of the axis of rotation to the perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic -3.39 degrees
The planet rotates in a direction different from the Earth and other planets (except Uranus).
A revolution around its own axis takes 243.02 days.
The solar day on the planet is 15.8 Earth days.
The angle of inclination of the equator to the orbit is 177.3 degrees.

Orbit of Venus.

The orbit of Venus is simple (almost circular), and at the same time, very unique in the solar system. She has the smallest eccentricity (as noted above, equal to 0.0068). But the most significant and mysterious feature is that it rotates around its axis in the opposite direction of its orbit around the Sun. This is a rare phenomenon in the characteristics of the planets of the solar system, (except Uranus), which has the same characteristic feature. It rotates around its axis from east to west. If you look from its North Pole, then it orbits clockwise, although all the other planets in our system rotate counterclockwise. Why this happens so remains a mysterious mystery at the present stage of the development of science. The divergence in the direction of the planet's movement around its own axis in orbit gives us the length of the day on Venus (116.8 times longer than on our Earth), and therefore there is only twice a year sunrise and sunset. A day (i.e. day and night) is equal to 58.4 Earth days. The planet flies around the Sun in 224.7 days (sidereal period) at a speed of 34.99 km / s, with its own rotation around the axis of 243 days (Earth day). The planet has its own unusual calendar, where the year lasts less than a day. Due to the slight inclination of the plane of the orbit to the plane of the equator, there are practically no seasonal changes on Venus. Due to the fact that the orbit of Venus is between the orbits of Mercury and our planet, and closer to the Sun than we are, earthlings can observe a phase change in Venus, like that of the Moon. For the first time, such a phase change was recorded in 1610 by Galileo, after the invention of the telescope, and when observing Venus. But in good cloudless weather, during the closest approach of Venus to the Earth, and without a telescope, you can see the crescent of Venus in the sky. You can observe the planet for a short time, only in the period after sunset and then before sunrise, since its orbit moves away from the Sun by no more than 48 degrees. In inferior conjunction to Earth, Venus always faces one side.

Atmosphere and climate.

For the first time, Lomonosov spoke about the atmosphere of Venus in 1761. He observed its passage across the solar disk and noticed a small halo around the planet as it entered and exited the solar disk. Subsequently, thanks to research, it was found that the planet has a very strong atmosphere, exceeding the earth's mass by almost 92 times. This is the most powerful atmosphere among Earth-like planets. Sometimes it reaches 119 bar (in Diana Canyon).

Planet Venus - interesting facts

Due to the huge greenhouse effect and proximity to the Sun, the temperature below the atmosphere is very high, and on the surface it often reaches 470-530⁰С, and the daily fluctuations due to the large greenhouse effect are insignificant. The entire surface of Venus is hidden behind thick dense clouds (presumably from sulfuric acid!), There are never clear days on the surface of this planet. Thanks to modern research, it has been established that carbon dioxide prevails in the atmosphere (its content is 97%). This is due to the fact that there are no carbon exchange processes, and there are no life processes that would process this gas into biomass. The atmosphere also contains nitrogen-4%, water vapor (about 0.05%), a thousandth of oxygen, as well as SO2, H2S, CO, HF, HCL. The sun's rays pass through the atmosphere only partially, and mainly in the form of reusable scattered radiation. Visibility is about the same as on a cloudy day on Earth.
The climate of Venus is characterized by almost no seasonal changes. The temperature is very high, higher than on Mercury, and reaches 500 degrees Celsius due to the greenhouse effect. The clouds are located at an altitude of 30-50 km and have several layers. When examining clouds with ultraviolet light, it was found that clouds move in the equator region from the east, almost straight, to the west with a period of 4 days, and strong winds blow at a speed of 100 m / s at the level of multilayer clouds. and more. Scientists have come to the conclusion that above the planet. at the upper borders of the clouds, one general hurricane rages, although on the very surface of the planet the wind weakens to 1 m / s. It is believed that acid rain is possible. A large number of thunderstorms have been established, almost twice as many as on Earth. So far, their origin has not been precisely established. The planet's magnetic field is very weak, but due to its proximity to the Sun and the strong gravitational force, tidal influences are quite significant. and in these places there is a large electric field strength (more than on Earth.)
The sky overhead on the planet is yellow with a greenish tint, since the atmosphere and carbon dioxide almost do not transmit rays of a different spectrum.

The internal structure and surface of Venus.

To date, scientists consider the most common, classical model consisting of three shells to be the most reliable model of the internal structure of Venus: a thin crust (approximately 14-16 km thick and a density of 2.7 g / cm³), a mantle made of molten silicate and a solid iron core , where there is no movement of liquid masses, which leads to a very small magnetic field. It is assumed that the mass of the core is 30% of the total mass of the planet. The center of mass of the planet relative to its geometric center is significantly shifted, by about 430 km.
Thanks to research by spacecraft, a map of the surface of Venus was compiled. The planet looks like a dry, completely waterless and very hot desert with unsteady ripples. 85% of the surface is plains. Uplands make up 10%. The largest elevations are the Ishtar Plateau and the Aphrodite Plateau, which are 3-5 km above the mid-plain level. They are also called the land of Ishtar and Aphrodite or the continents. The highest mountain is Maxwell on the Ishtar plateau, reaching a height of 12 km. There are also a lot of large depressions of regular round shape with a diameter of 10 to 200 km. There are relatively few impact craters, there are about 1000 of them. Their inner region is filled with lava, and sometimes petals stick out from fragments of crushed rock that has flown up. Often a network of small cracks in the crust is visible around the craters. There are also volcano craters, furrows and lines in the crust. and entire rivers of basalt lavas. All this speaks of past tectonic activity on the planet. It should be said that during this period of research by spacecraft, no volcanic and tectonic activity was recorded on the planet.

During the landing of the spacecraft, the ground surface was recorded as smooth rocky fragments of basalt rock with an average size of up to 1 meter. Approximately, knowing the frequency of bombardment of planets by asteroids, comets and meteorites, one can determine the age of the planet. Venus according to these data is 0.5 - 1 million years. years. The rules for naming the relief of the surface of Venus were approved in 1985 by the XIX Assembly of the International Astronomical Union. Small craters were given female names: Katya, Olya, etc., large ones were named after famous women, hills and plateaus were named after goddesses, furrows and lines were named after militant women. True, as always, there are exceptions, such as Mount Maxwell, Alpha and Beta regions.
Unfortunately, the beautiful and brightest silver-white planet remains mysterious and enigmatic for us. The main discovery of science is that Venus is lifeless, deserted, there is no water on it, the surface is very hot.

Space and its mysteries

Orbit of Venus, distance from Earth

Venus belongs to the terrestrial planets and is the second planet in the solar system. That is, it is closer to the Sun than our native blue planet. The orbit of Venus is almost circular, its eccentricity is only 0.0068, and therefore the distance to the star changes slightly. Its average value is 108.21 million km. But the distance from Earth to Venus is not a constant. Its value is constantly changing depending on the position of the planets in their orbits.

Planet Venus: interesting data and facts

Therefore, there are minimum and maximum distances. The minimum distance between Earth and Venus is 38 million km. This occurs on average every 584 days. At the same time, due to the decrease in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, in the distant future, the minimum distance will increase. As for the maximum distance, it is 261 million km. In this case, the blue planet and Venus are not on opposite sides of the Sun, but at the most distant points of their orbits from each other.

It is noteworthy that all the planets of the solar system revolve around the sun in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed from the north pole of the earth. In addition, most of the planets also rotate counterclockwise around their axes. Venus is subject to retrograde rotation. It rotates around its axis clockwise.

It makes one revolution around the Sun in 224.7 days at a speed of 35.02 km / s. But its rotation around its own axis corresponds to 243 Earth days at an equatorial speed of 6.52 km/h. This indicator is considered the slowest in observable outer space. A sunny day on the planet corresponds to 117 Earth days. For reference, a sunny day on Mercury (the 1st planet of the solar system) lasts 176 Earth days.

These are the features of the orbit of Venus. It is also noteworthy that the length of the Venusian year is less than the length of the Venusian day. And the synodic period is equal to 584 days - the time between successive conjunctions of Venus with the Sun when observed from the Earth. If you observe the Sun from the surface of the planet, then it will rise in the west and set in the east. However, the clouds that envelop Venus will not allow you to see the luminary.

The 2nd planet of the solar system has no natural satellites. Venus is supposed to have had its own moon billions of years ago. But then a huge meteorite fell on the planet and changed its rotation. After that, the satellite began to approach Venus and collided with it. There is also speculation that the absence of moons is due to strong solar tidal forces. They destabilize large space objects and prevent them from orbiting the 2nd planet.

The cosmic body under consideration is closer to the Sun than the Earth, so the orbit of Venus makes it possible to see from the Earth the passage of the 2nd planet across the solar disk. At the same time, it looks like a small black disk against the background of a shining star. But this phenomenon can be seen very rarely. In 243 years there is 1 cycle. It consists of pairs of transits, divided into 8 years, and at intervals of 105.5 or 121.5 years.

For the first time, this cosmic effect was observed on December 4, 1639 by an astronomer from England, Jeremiah Horrocks. And in the future, people will observe the next pair of transits in December 2117 and 1125.

Mikhail Lomonosov on June 6, 1761 also saw the appearance of Venus on the Sun. In addition to him, more than a hundred astronomers around the world became eyewitnesses of this phenomenon. Some of them have set themselves the goal of using this effect to calculate the distance from the Earth to Venus and to the Sun.

But of all this mass of specialists, only Lomonosov noticed the light rim around the planet. It appeared when the planet entered the solar disk, and then this effect was repeated when it descended from the solar disk. The Russian scientist concluded that this rim indicates that the planet has a dense atmosphere. Subsequently, it turned out that Lomonosov was not mistaken.

Vladislav Ivanov

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 a distance. 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.

In recent years, the media have been writing a lot about the exploration of the Moon and Mars, bringing more and more unexpected and sometimes frankly sensational news. The other closest neighbor of our planet in the face of Venus somehow ended up in the shadows. But there is also a lot of interesting and sometimes unexpected things.

For a long time, Venus remained a kind of "unknown land" for astronomers. This is due to the dense cloud cover that constantly envelops it. With the help of telescopes, it was not even possible to establish the length of the day on Venus. The first such attempt was made by the famous French astronomer of Italian origin Giovanni Cassini back in 1667.
He stated that a day on the Morning Star is almost the same as on Earth and is equal to 23 hours and 21 minutes.

In the 80s of the XIX century, another great Italian - Giovanni Schiaparelli - established that this planet rotates much more slowly, but he was still far from the truth. Even when interplanetary locators went into action, it was not possible to establish it immediately. So, in May 1961, a group of Soviet scientists came to the conclusion in this way that a day on Venus lasts 11 Earth days.

Only a year later, the American radio physicists Goldstein and Carpenter were able to obtain a more or less real value: according to their calculations, Venus makes one revolution around its axis in 240 Earth days. Subsequent measurements showed that their duration reaches 243 Earth. And this despite the fact that this planet makes a revolution around the Sun in 225 Earth days!

That is, the days there last more than a year. At the same time, Venus also rotates around its axis in the direction opposite to that characteristic of the Earth and almost all other planets, that is, the luminary rises there in the west and sets in the east.

In size, the Morning Star almost does not differ from the Earth: the equatorial radius of Venus is 6051.8 km, and that of the Earth is 6378.1; polar radii - 6051.8 and 6356.8 km, respectively. Their average density is also close: 5.24 g/cm³ for Venus and 5.52 g/cm³ for the Earth. The free fall acceleration on our planet is only 10% greater than the Venusian one. So, it would seem that the scientists of the past knowingly fantasized about the fact that somewhere under the cloudy cover of the Morning Star lurks life similar to the earth.

Back in the first half of the 20th century, popular science magazines depicted that the nearby planet was in its development at the stage of a kind of Carboniferous period, that oceans were splashing on its surface, and the land was covered with lush exotic vegetation. But how far they really were from the true state of things!

In the 1950s, with the help of radio telescopes, it was established that the atmosphere of Venus has an enormous density: 50 times more than at the surface of the Earth. This meant that the atmospheric pressure near the surface of Venus is 90 times greater than the earth's!

When interplanetary automatic stations reached Venus, many more interesting things were found out. For example, that the temperature on the surface of a neighboring planet is +470'C. At this temperature, lead, tin and zinc can only exist in a molten state.

Due to the fact that the dense atmosphere is a good heat insulator, daily and annual temperature drops on the Morning Star are practically absent even under conditions of unusually long days. Of course, hoping to find life in its usual sense in such a hellish hell is at least naive.

SECRETS OF THE MORNING STAR

The Venusian landscape is practically no different from the endless desert scorched by the sun. Up to 80% of the planet's surface falls on flat and hilly plains of volcanic origin. The remaining 20% is occupied by four huge mountain ranges: the Land of Aphrodite,

The land of Ishtar and the regions of Alpha and Beta. When studying some photographs of the surface of Venus, taken by interplanetary automatic stations, one gets the impression that only volcanoes rule everywhere on the planet - there are so many of them. Perhaps Venus is indeed still very, very young geologically and has not even reached the age of the Carboniferous? In addition to volcanic ones, about a thousand meteorite craters have been discovered on the planet: an average of 2 craters per 1 million km². Many of them reach a diameter of 150-270 km.

The superheated atmosphere of Venus, from the point of view of earthlings, is a real hellish mixture: 97% of its composition is carbon dioxide, 2% nitrogen, 0.01% or even less oxygen and 0.05% water vapor. At an altitude of 48-49 kilometers, a 20-kilometer layer of clouds begins, consisting of sulfuric acid vapors. At the same time, the atmosphere revolves around the planet 60 times faster than itself.

Why this happens, scientists can not yet answer. At the same time, the wind speed at high altitudes reaches 60 m/s, near the surface - 3-7 m/s. The sun's rays in the Venusian atmosphere are strongly refracted, as a result of which refraction occurs and it becomes possible, especially at night, to see what is beyond the horizon. The color of the sky is yellow-green, the clouds are orange.

The Venus Express probe discovered a mysterious phenomenon on approach to the planet. In photographs taken from space, it is clearly seen that there is a giant black funnel in the atmosphere of the planet above its South Pole. One gets the impression that atmospheric clouds are twisted into a giant spiral, which goes inside the planet through a huge hole.

That is, Venus in this case looks like a hollow ball. Of course, scientists do not seriously think about the existence of an entrance leading to the Venusian underworld, but the mysterious spiral vortices over the South Pole of the planet are still waiting for their explanation.

Another strange phenomenon Venus demonstrated to scientists in 2008. It was then that a strange luminous fog was discovered in its atmosphere, which, having existed for only a few days, disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Astronomers believe that on other planets, including on Earth, this phenomenon is most likely absent.

"BIRD", "DISC", "SCORPION"

However, the strangest thing is that on the planet, on the surface of which lead is melted, something very similar to the manifestations of life is still registered. Already in one of the panoramic photographs taken by the Soviet apparatus "Venera-9" in 1975, the attention of several groups of experimenters was attracted by a symmetrical object of complex shape, about 40 cm in size, resembling a sitting bird with an outstretched tail.

In the collection published three years later, edited by Academician M.V. Keldysh, “The Planets Rediscovered”, this subject was described as follows:

“The details of the object are symmetrical about the longitudinal axis. Lack of clarity hides its contours, but... with some imagination, you can see the fantastic inhabitant of Venus... Its entire surface is covered with strange growths, and in their position you can see some kind of symmetry.

To the left of the object protrudes a long straight white process, under which a deep shadow is visible, repeating its shape. The white process is very similar to a straight tail. On the opposite side, the object ends in a large white rounded protrusion resembling a head. The whole object rests on a short thick "paw". The image resolution is not enough to clearly distinguish all the details of the mysterious object...

Did "Venus-9" land next to a living inhabitant of the planet? This is very hard to believe. In addition, in the eight minutes that had elapsed before the return of the camera lens to the subject, he did not change his position at all. This is strange for a living creature… Most likely, we see a stone of an unusual shape, similar to a volcanic bomb… With a tail.”

In the same book, it was said that heat-resistant organic compounds were synthesized on Earth that can withstand temperatures up to 1000 ° C or more, that is, in terms of the existence of life, Venus is not so unpromising.

On March 1, 1982, very interesting images were also transmitted by the Venera-13 apparatus. Strange, changing shape “disk” and a certain “panicle” got into the lens of his camera. Moreover, the measuring hammer of the interplanetary apparatus braided a strange object, called the "black patch", which soon disappeared.

However, the “flap”, most likely, was torn out of the ground during landing and was soon blown away by the wind, but the “scorpion” that appeared at the 93rd minute after the landing of the apparatus, similar in shape to terrestrial insects and crustaceans, is already in the next picture where - has disappeared.

A careful analysis of successively taken photographs led to paradoxical conclusions: during the landing of the apparatus, the "scorpion" was covered with torn soil, but gradually dug a groove in it, got out and went somewhere.

So is life teeming with life in this hell with rains of sulfuric acid? ..

Viktor BUMAGIN

Venus is the second planet in the solar system with an orbital period of 224.7 Earth days. It is named after the Roman goddess of love. The planet is one of all that has received the name of a female deity. In terms of brightness, this is the third object in the sky after the Moon and the Sun. Since Venus is closer to the Sun than the Earth, it never moves away from it more than 47.8 degrees. It is best viewed before sunrise or a little after sunset. This fact gave reason to call her the Evening or Morning Star. Sometimes the planet is called the sister of the Earth. They are both similar in size, composition and gravity. But the conditions are very different.

The surface of Venus is hidden by thick clouds of sulfuric acid, which makes it difficult to see its surface in visible light. The planet's atmosphere is transparent to radio waves. With their help, the relief of Venus was studied. The debate about what is under the clouds of the planet continued for a long time. But many secrets have been revealed by planetology. Venus has the densest atmosphere of all Earth-like planets. It mainly consists of carbon dioxide. This is explained by the fact that there is no life and carbon cycle. It is believed that in ancient times the planet was very hot. This led to the fact that all the oceans that existed here evaporated. They left behind a desert landscape with many slab-like rocks. It is believed that due to the weak magnetic field, water vapor was carried away into interplanetary space by the solar wind. Scientists have found that even now the atmosphere of Venus is losing oxygen and hydrogen in a ratio of 1:2. Atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of the earth. Over the past 22 years, the planet has been mapped by the Magellan project.

The atmosphere of Venus contains a lot of sulfur, and the surface bears signs of volcanic activity. Some scholars argue that this activity continues today. There is no exact evidence for this, because lava flows have not been seen in any of the depressions. A small number of craters suggests that the surface of the planet is young: it is about 500 million years old. There is also no evidence of plate tectonic movement. Due to the lack of water, the planet's lithosphere is very viscous. It is assumed that gradually the planet loses its high internal temperature.

Basic information

The distance to the Sun is 108 million kilometers. The distance to the Earth varies from 40 to 259 million kilometers. The planet's orbit is close to circular. It revolves around the Sun in 224.7 days, and the speed of rotation around the orbit is 35 km per second. To the plane of the ecliptic, the inclination of the orbit is 3.4 degrees. Venus rotates around its axis from east to west. This direction is opposite to the rotation of most planets. One revolution takes 243.02 Earth days. Accordingly, a solar day on the planet is equal to 116.8 Earth days. In relation to the Earth, Venus makes one revolution around its axis in 146 days. The synodic period is exactly 4 times longer and is 584 days. As a result, the planet faces the Earth on one side at each inferior conjunction. It is not yet clear whether this is a mere coincidence or whether the gravitational attraction of Venus and the Earth is acting. The dimensions of the planet are close to those of the earth. The radius of Venus is 95% of the radius of the Earth (6051.8 kilometers), the mass is 81.5% of the earth's (4.87 10 24 kilograms), and the average density is 5.24 g / cm³.

planetary atmosphere

The atmosphere was discovered by Lomonosov at the time when the planet was passing over the disk of the Sun in 1761. It mainly consists of nitrogen (4%) and carbon dioxide (96%). It contains trace amounts of oxygen and water vapor. Also, the atmosphere of Venus contains 105 times more gas than the Earth's atmosphere. The temperature is 475 degrees, and the pressure reaches 93 atm. The temperature of Venus exceeds Mercury, which is 2 times closer to the Sun. There is a reason for this - the greenhouse effect, which is created by a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere. At the surface, the density of the atmosphere is 14 times less than that of water. Despite the fact that the planet rotates slowly, there is no difference in day and night temperatures. The atmosphere of Venus extends to an altitude of 250 kilometers. Clouds are located at an altitude of 30-60 kilometers. The cover consists of several layers. Its chemical composition has not yet been established. But there are suggestions that compounds of chlorine and sulfur are present here. Measurements were taken from the boards of spacecraft that descended in the atmosphere of the planet. They showed that the cloud cover is not very dense and looks like a light haze. In the ultraviolet, it looks like a mosaic of dark and light bands, which are elongated to the equator at a slight angle. Clouds rotate from east to west.

The movement period is 4 days. From this it emerges that the speed of the winds that blow at the level of the clouds is 100 m per second. Lightning here strikes 2 times more often than in the Earth's atmosphere. This phenomenon has been called the "electric dragon of Venus". It was first recorded by the Venera-2 spacecraft. It was detected as interference in a radio transmission. According to the Venera-8 apparatus, only an insignificant part of the sun's rays reach the surface of Venus. When the Sun is at its zenith, the illumination is 1000-300 lux. There are never bright days here. "Venus Express" discovered the ozone layer in the atmosphere, which is located at an altitude of 100 kilometers.

Climate of Venus

As calculations show, if there was no greenhouse effect, the maximum temperature of Venus would not be higher than 80 degrees. In fact, the temperature of the planet is 477 degrees, the pressure is 93 atm. These calculations disappointed some researchers who believed that conditions on Venus were close to those on Earth. The greenhouse effect leads to a strong heating of the planet's surface. Here the wind is rather weak, and near the equator it intensifies to 200-300 m per second. Thunderstorms have also been detected in the atmosphere.

Internal structure and surface

Thanks to the development of radar methods, it became possible to study the surface of Venus. The most detailed map was compiled by the Magellan apparatus. He photographed 98% of the planet. Extensive elevations have been identified on the planet. The largest of them are the Land of Aphrodite and the Land of Ishtar. There are relatively few impact craters on the planet. 90% of Venus is covered with basaltic solidified lava. Much of the surface is young. With the help of Venera Express, a map of the southern hemisphere of the planet was compiled and published. On the basis of these data, hypotheses appeared about the existence of strong tectonic activity and oceans here. There are several models of its structure. According to the most realistic, Venus has 3 shells. The first is the crust, which is 16 km thick. The second is the mantle. This is a shell that extends to a depth of 3300 km. Since the planet does not have a magnetic field, it is believed that there is no electric current in the core that causes it. This means that the core is in a solid state. In the center, the density reaches 14 g/cm³. A large number of details of the planet's relief have female names.

Relief

The apparatus "Venera-16" and "Venera-15" recorded part of the northern hemisphere of Venus. From 1989 to 1994, Magellan produced more accurate mapping of the planet. Here, ancient volcanoes were discovered that erupt lava, mountains, arachnoids, craters. The bark is very thin, as it is weakened by heat. The Land of Aphrodite and Ishtar are no smaller than Europe in area, and the Parnge canyons surpass them in length. Lowlands similar to oceanic depressions occupy 1/6 of the planet's surface. On Ishtar Land, the Maxwell Mountains rise 11 kilometers. Impact craters are a rare feature of the planet's landscape. There are approximately 1000 craters on the entire surface.

Observation

Venus is very easy to recognize. It shines much brighter than any stars. It can be distinguished due to its even white color. Like Mercury, it does not move far from the Sun. It can move away from the yellow star by 47.8 degrees at the moments of elongations. Venus, like Mercury, has periods of evening and morning visibility. In ancient times, it was believed that evening and morning Venus are two different stars. Even with a small telescope, one can easily observe changes in the apparent phase of its disk. It was first observed by Galileo in 1610.

Passage on the disk of the Sun

Venus looks like a small black disk against a large luminary. But this occurrence is very rare. For 2.5 centuries there are 4 passages - 2 June and 2 December. We could observe the last one on June 6, 2012. The next passage is expected on December 11, 2117. The astronomer Horrocks first observed this phenomenon on December 4, 1639. It was he who calculated it.

"Phenomena of Venus on the Sun" was also of particular interest. They were made by Lomonosov in 1761. It was also calculated in advance and expected by astronomers around the world. His research was needed to determine the parallax, which allows you to specify the distance from the Sun to the Earth. This required observation from different points of the planet. They were held in 40 locations with the participation of 112 people. Lomonosov was the organizer in Russia. He was interested in the physical side of the phenomenon and, thanks to independent observations, discovered a rim of light around Venus.

Satellite

Venus, like Mercury, has no natural satellites. There used to be a lot of claims about their existence, but they were all based on a mistake. These searches were practically completed by 1770. After all, during the observation of the passage of the planet across the disk of the Sun, signs of the existence of a satellite were not found. Venus has a quasi-satellite that revolves around the Sun so that there is an orbital resonance between Venus and it, asteroid 2002 VE. In the 19th century, Mercury was considered to be a satellite of Venus.

Interesting Venus Facts:

Venus is not much smaller than Earth.

It is the second planet from the Sun. The distance between them is 108 million km.

Venus is a solid planet. Refers to terrestrial planets. Its surface has a volcanic landscape and many craters.

The planet revolves around the Sun in 225 Earth days.

The atmosphere of Venus is toxic and dense. It is made up of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. There are also clouds that are made up of sulfuric acid.

The planet has no satellites.

Venus has been explored by more than 40 vehicles. In the 1990s, Magellan mapped approximately 98% of the planet.

There is no evidence of life.

The planet rotates in the opposite direction compared to the rest. The sun sets in the east and rises in the west.

Venus can cast a shadow on the surface of the Earth on a moonless night. This planet is the brightest of all.

There is no magnetic field.

The sphere of the planet is ideal, in contrast to the earth, which has a flattened sphere at the poles.

Due to the strong wind, the clouds completely circle the planet in 4 Earth days.

It is impossible to see the Earth or the Sun from the surface of the planet, as clouds constantly envelop it.

The diameter of craters on the surface of Venus reaches two or more kilometers.

There is no change in the seasons due to the slow rotation around the axis.

It is believed that earlier there were large reserves of water, but due to solar radiation, it evaporated.

Venus is the first planet seen from space.

The dimensions of the planet are smaller than the dimensions of the Earth, the density is lower, and the mass is equal to 4/5 of the mass of our planet.

Due to the low gravity, a 70 kg person on Venus would weigh no more than 62 kg.

Our Earth year is slightly longer than a Venusian day.

The story about Venus for children contains information about the temperature on Venus, about its satellites and features. You can supplement the message about Venus with interesting facts.

A short message about Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It bears the name of the ancient Roman goddess of love. Due to its bright radiance, it is clearly visible even to the naked eye. In ancient times, it was called the "morning" and "evening star". This is a neighbor of our planet, these planets are also similar in size and appearance.

Venus is surrounded by a fairly dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide. On the surface there are mountains and plains, volcanic eruptions often occur.

Temperatures on the surface of Venus reach over 400 degrees Celsius because the planet is covered by dense layers of clouds that trap heat.

However, on the shadow side on Venus, the temperature is about 20 degrees below zero, because the sun's rays do not fall here for a very long time. Venus has no satellites.

Message about Venus for children

Venus is the second planet of the solar system. Named after Venus, the goddess of love from the Roman pantheon. It is the only one of the eight major planets in the solar system to be named after a female deity.

Venus is sometimes referred to as "Earth's sister" because the two planets are similar in size, gravity, and composition. However, the conditions on the two planets are very different.

The atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide, the rest is nitrogen with a small amount of other compounds. According to its structure the atmosphere is dense, deep and very cloudy. But the surface of the planet is difficult to see due to a kind of "greenhouse effect". The pressure there is 85 times greater than ours. The composition of the surface in its density resembles the basalts of the Earth, but it is extremely dry due to the complete absence of liquid and high temperatures. The temperature on the planet rises to 462°C. The crust is 50 km thick and consists of silicate rocks.

One axial rotation (sidereal day) takes 243 days, and the orbital path covers 225 days. A sunny day lasts 117 days. This the longest day on all the planets of the solar system.

Another interesting feature - Venus, unlike other planets in the system, rotates in the opposite direction - from east to west. It also lacks satellites.