Tag Archive for Venus

An artist’s impression of an asteroid that orbits closer to the Sun than Earth’s orbit. Image credit: DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine.

Astronomers Discover Three Large Near-Earth Asteroids

Nov 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have discovered two...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Sulfur-Metabolizing Aerial Life Cannot Explain Composition of Venus’ Atmosphere, Scientists Say

Jun 21, 2022 by News Staff

In new research, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has tested the ‘life in the Venusian clouds’ hypothesis. Jordan et al. demonstrate...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

New Study Sheds More Light on Dynamics of Venus’ Atmosphere

Apr 20, 2022 by News Staff

The gravity of a large object in space can keep a smaller object from spinning, a phenomenon called tidal locking. The discovery and characterization of...

When flying past Venus on July 11, 2020, the WISPR instrument onboard Parker Solar Probe detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of cosmic rays, sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg / Brendan Gallagher.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Captures Stunning Images of Venus’ Night Side

Feb 10, 2022 by News Staff

During two gravity-assist flybys on July 11, 2020 and February 20, 2021, the Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) imager on board NASA’s...

Possible scenarios of terrestrial planet formation: in the classic Wetherill-type model of oligarchic growth, the terrestrial planets formed by mutual collisions among Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos after the gas disk dissipated and accreted only a small fraction of CC planetesimals, which were scattered inward during Jupiter’s growth and/or putative migration; alternatively, the terrestrial planets may have formed within the lifetime of the gas disk by efficiently accreting ‘pebbles’ from the outer Solar System, which drift sunward through the disk due to gas drag; the two models differ in the amount of outer solar system material accreted by the terrestrial planets, which may be quantified using nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies. Image credit: Burkhardt et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj7601.

Earth and Other Terrestrial Planets Formed from Inner Solar System Material, Study Suggests

Dec 28, 2021 by News Staff

Two fundamentally different processes of rocky planet formation exist, but it is unclear which one built the Earth and other terrestrial solar system planets....

An artist’s conception of the aerial biosphere in the cloud layers of Venus. In this picture, hypothetical microbial life in the clouds of Venus resides inside protective cloud particles and is carried by winds around the planet. Image credit: J. Petkowska.

Clouds of Venus May Be More Habitable than Previously Thought

Dec 21, 2021 by News Staff

Possible lifeforms in the Venusian clouds could be setting off a cascade of chemical reactions that is making the environment much more habitable, according...

An artist’s rendition of an eggshell exoplanet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Eggshell Exoplanets: Rocky Worlds with Ultra-Thin Brittle Lithospheres Could Theoretically Exist

Nov 11, 2021 by News Staff

The thickness of the brittle lithosphere — the outer portion of a planetary body that fails via fracturing — plays a key role in the geological...

An artist’s impression of the early Venus. Image credit: Manchu.

Venus Never Had Oceans, New Study Suggests

Oct 18, 2021 by News Staff

New research led by the Observatoire astronomique de l’Université de Genève suggests that water never condensed and that, consequently, oceans never...

This infrared image from JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter shows night on Venus. Image credit: ISAS / JAXA.

Study: Sunlight Filtering through Venusian Clouds Could Support Earth-Like Photosynthesis

Sep 30, 2021 by News Staff

In a paper published this week in the journal Astrobiology, researchers focused on the possible existence of the Earth-like phototrophy — the process...

The asteroid 2021 PH27 was imaged inside Mercury’s orbit and has been colored red and blue to show the two different times where it was imaged on August 13, 2021 -- just three minutes apart. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / DOE / DECam / AURA / S.S. Sheppard, Carnegie Institution of Science.

Astronomers Discover Fastest-Orbiting Asteroid Ever Seen

Aug 24, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered asteroid 2021 PH27 has a diameter of about 1 km (3,280 feet) and orbits the Sun in just 113 days — the shortest known orbital...

The three main weather patterns on Venus. Image credit: Imamura et al. / JAXA.

Akatsuki Observes Nightside Equatorial Circulation in Atmosphere of Venus

Jul 21, 2021 by News Staff

Venus is well known for its rotating upper atmosphere, which sweeps around the planet once every 4 Earth days. This is in stark contrast to the rotation...

Artist’s impression of a volcano erupting on Venus. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

Phosphine in Atmosphere of Venus Points to Explosive Volcanic Activity

Jul 13, 2021 by News Staff

In 2020, planetary scientists detected small amounts of the biosignature gas phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope...

Proximity to Sun’s Magnetic Field Determines Composition of Rocky Planets, Study Says

Jul 2, 2021 by News Staff

Terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are differentiated into three layers: a metallic core, a silicate shell (mantle and crust), and a...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Clouds of Venus Too Dry to Sustain Even Extremophile Life Forms, Study Says

Jun 29, 2021 by News Staff

The recent suggestion of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus has regenerated interest in the idea of life in clouds; however, such analyses usually...

The largest crustal block Byrne et al. identified in the Venus lowlands: (A) Magellan radar image mosaic of the block; named landforms are shown; the black and white arrows mark impact craters and prominent lava flows, respectively; the approximate outline of the campus is marked by a dashed yellow line; (B) radar image (left) and structural sketch (right) of extensional faults curving into the main groove belt that delineates the southwestern margin of this campus, here with a right-lateral sense of slip; (C) sigmoidal, positive-relief landforms we interpret as right-lateral transpressive structures; (D) another example of sigmoidal, positive-relief ridges we regard as denoting right-lateral transpression, with a different strike from those structures in (C); in these and subsequent structural sketches, prominent extensional structures are in purple (with ball-and-bar symbols shown on example down-thrown blocks), and prominent shortening structures are in teal (with sawtooth symbols on example upper blocks); minor and/or poorly expressed fractures of various types are shown as thin, black lines; wrinkle ridges are generally not recorded; exemplar extensional and shortening landforms are marked with gold and red arrows, respectively; the radar look direction is from the left in (A), and from the right in (B-D). All images are in azimuthal equidistant projection, centered at 24.5°S, 146.5°E (A); 20.0°S, 138.3°E (B); 27.2°S, 141.1°E (C); and 18.0°S, 145.0°E (D). Image credit: Byrne et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2025919118.

Planetary Scientists Find Evidence for Crustal Block Tectonics on Venus

Jun 22, 2021 by News Staff

Using data collected by the synthetic aperture radar on NASA’s Magellan spacecraft, a team of planetary researchers has identified a pattern of tectonic...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s VERITAS spacecraft using its radar to produce high-resolution maps of Venus’ topographic and geologic features. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Selects Two New Missions to Venus

Jun 3, 2021 by News Staff

NASA has selected two new Discovery Program missions — the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI+)...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Parker Solar Probe Detects Natural Radio Emission from Ionosphere of Venus

May 5, 2021 by News Staff

On July 11, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made its third flyby of Venus. During 7 min around the closest approach, one of the spacecraft’s scientific...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Radio Astronomers Measure Fundamental Properties of Venus

Apr 30, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using Earth-based radar observations have measured some of the fundamental properties of the planet Venus: the precise length of a day, the...

Computer model of the Antikythera Mechanism’s display: in the center, the dome of the Earth, the phase of the Moon and its position in the Zodiac -- then rings for Mercury, Venus, true Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Date, with ‘little sphere’ markers and smaller markers for oppositions. Scale marks and index letters for the synodic cycles of the planets are inscribed on the planet rings. Surrounding these, the Zodiac and the Egyptian Calendar. The true Sun ring has a ‘little golden sphere’ with ‘pointer.’ When the Moon and Sun pointers coincide, the Moon sphere shows black for New Moon; when the pointers are on opposite sides, the Moon sphere shows white for Full Moon. The Head of the Dragon Hand shows the ascending lunar node; the Tail the descending node. Small triangles on the true Sun ring, near the pointer, show wider and narrower eclipse limits. Eclipses are possible if the Dragon Hand is within these limits. When the Moon pointer is before the Head of the Dragon, the Moon is South of the node; after, it is North of the node -- conversely for the descending node. A Date pointer is attached to a narrow date ring, showing the date in the Egyptian Calendar. Image credit: Freeth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w.

Scientists Step Closer to Understanding Full Capabilities of Antikythera Mechanism

Mar 15, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from University College London and the Cyprus Institute’s Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center has...

When flying past Venus on July 11, 2020, the WISPR instrument onboard Parker Solar Probe detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of cosmic rays, sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg / Brendan Gallagher.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Returns Spectacular Image of Venus

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

The new image was taken by the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) during the close flyby of the second planet from the Sun on July 11, 2020. When...

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