Have you ever wondered how much other planets in our solar system are like Earth? Venus is especially much like Earth because they have similar characteristics such as chemical make-up, mass, distance from the sun, and size. Many Scientists have theorized that Venus and Earth started out the same and over time, have changed into the state they are in now. European Scientist have more evidence to prove that theory with the recent mission to Venus. Evidence of even more similar characteristics such as strong atmospheric winds, lightning storms, and cloud vortexes over it’s polar regions according to the article “Venus Craft Reveals Lightning, Supports Watery Past” by James Owen from the National Geographic (November 2007).
Venus has an average atmospheric temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 times the amount of pressure Earth has, therefore it seem plausible that Venus once had just as much water as Earth and over time, it evaporated away. On the spacecraft taken to Venus had a plasma analyzer that detects ions leaving Venus’ atmosphere. The three main ions detected were helium, oxygen, and hydrogen which is very suspicious of evaporated water. When water molecules split, not only is hydrogen and oxygen released, but traces of deuterium are a byproduct of the reaction. Therefore the amount of deuterium found is associated with the amount of water evaporated. During with mission, they found high levels of deuterium further more proving that water was being evaporated into Venus’ atmosphere.
Throughout the mission, they have also found large cloud vortexes over the polar regions that have much higher temperatures than the area around it. From this finding they suspect that like Earth, Venus has circulating warm air traveling from the equatorial region to the polar regions. I think this is very fascinating to find this similar trend in the planets closest to Earth.
For the first time, scientists have evidence of lightning on Venus found from this mission. Many scientists were caught off guard in seeing it. Scientists believed that it wasn’t possible to have lightning on Venus due to the smog-type of cloud found there. Since smog-type clouds generally don’t produce elecrical charges, they assumed it wasn’t possible. They now wonder if they have thought of all the reasons electricity could be generated by the atmosphere.
I was very surprised to see that scientists have found lightning on other planets. Not only that but to also realize how much Venus and Earth really are alike. Advances in technology have made it possible to prove not only our theories about Venus but create new ones. I can only wonder how much more we will find out about how similar Venus and other planets are to our own.
Kathryn Dougherty
16 responses so far ↓
1 PSP themes // Sep 8, 2008 at 4:54 am
hmm talk about our future planet is very interesting, maybe this planet will be our destination when this earth in danger state
2 lastname // Sep 19, 2008 at 7:42 am
yup, but i will wait
3 rvsdi // Sep 21, 2008 at 2:38 am
venus and mars are another earth in the future
4 malcum // Apr 10, 2009 at 1:06 am
the dream are becoming true guys… and venus.. here we come!!
5 ANTTE // May 30, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I am also very surprised to see that scientists have found lightning on other planets.
Greeting And Best Regards
6 TheGreatCaliforniastory // Jun 3, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Venus has an average atmospheric temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 times the amount of pressure Earth has.
Realy?
uinbeliveable!
Interestring article
THANK YOU
7 Homer // Jul 9, 2009 at 3:21 am
There is some evidence of spreading and folding on Venus’ surface and of recent volcanic flows. But there is no evidence of plate tectonics as seen on Earth. Is this a result of the higher surface temperature?
The greenhouse effect is much stronger on Venus than Earth because of Venus’ dense carbon dioxide atmosphere. But why did Venus evolve so differently from Earth?
LOL
8 Favor Biz // Jul 19, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Venus is a hellish place of high temperatures and crushing air pressure. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission adds into this mix the first confirmation that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning.
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9 Daniel // Aug 26, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Venus is a hellish place of high temperatures and crushing air pressure. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission adds into this mix the first confirmation that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning.
10 Gun Blog // Sep 18, 2009 at 12:29 am
VENUS is looking a bit more Earth-like, with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe.
For nearly three decades, astronomers have said Venus probably had lightning, but because of signal interference, experts were not sure.
Now a magnetic antenna on the European Space Agency’s Venus Express probe proved that the lightning was real
11 Signa // Sep 18, 2009 at 12:43 am
i interested with this article..
i dont believe have atmospheric temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit.. its great
12 POWERHOUSE // Sep 18, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I love Venus since i was child… because Venus had a ring… but I really don’t know about this facts… thanks
13 Depoastur // Oct 31, 2009 at 5:14 am
I dont think Venus and Earth have similar characteristics. its amazing…
14 Ptlitup // Oct 31, 2009 at 5:27 am
I think Venus its great planet, after earth venus is number two the others planet.
15 Media // Nov 1, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Lightning in the clouds on Venus should most nearly resemble intra-cloud discharges on Earth. Intra-cloud discharges are weaker, shorter and more frequent than cloud-to-ground discharges and cause more slowly varying luminosity. Terrestrial lightning also has both geographic and local time orderings. At Venus there is much evidence for lightning similar to terrestrial lightning. The Venera landers saw electromagnetic radiation much like sferics from terrestrial lightning. Pioneer Venus also saw such signals leaking out into the night ionosphere. These signals have a strong local time dependence not unlike terrestrial lightning. The local time distribution helps explain the mixed results of optical surveys. The successful observation was on the evening side where there is much apparently lightning-generated electromagnetic radiation; the unsuccessful observations were on the morning side where such plasma waves and hence lightning discharges appear to be rare.
16 Cliff Richard // Nov 5, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Scientist confirms lightning on Venus
With the help of observations from European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission, astronomers confirm for the first time that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning.
“In addition to all the pressure and heat, we can confirm there is lightning on Venus — maybe even more activity than there is here on Earth,” said Christopher Russell, a NASA-sponsored scientist on Venus Express from the University of California, Los Angeles, and lead author of one of the Nature papers.
The discovery puts Venus in elite planetary company. Scientists currently know of only three other planetary bodies in the entire universe that generate lightning — Earth, Jupiter and Saturn.
Lightning on Venus — as well as on any other planet — is an important discovery because the electrical discharges drive the chemistry of an atmosphere by breaking molecules into fragments that can then join with other fragments in unexpected ways. Any future missions to Venus may have to take into account the electrical activity in its atmosphere.
The lightning on Venus is unique from that found on Earth, Jupiter and Saturn since it is the only lightning known that is not associated with water clouds. Instead, on Venus, the lightning is associated with clouds of sulfuric acid.
The confirming measurements of the electrical discharges were made with data obtained by the Venus Express magnetometer instrument.
With its primary mission completed, Venus Express will now embark upon its extended mission to watch Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor for two more Venusian days. A Venusian day is about 117 days long.
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