Watching Venus Glow In The Dark
ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has observed an eerie glow in the night-time atmosphere of Venus. This infrared light comes from nitric oxide and is showing scientists that the atmosphere of Earth's...
View ArticleNew Map Hints At Venus's Wet, Volcanic Past
Venus Express has charted the first map of Venus's southern hemisphere at infrared wavelengths. The new map hints that our neighboring world may once have been more Earth-like with both a plate...
View ArticleVenus Express Adds Evidence For Atmospheric Water Loss On Earth's Twin
Observations by the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission have provided strong new evidence that the solar wind has stripped away significant quantities of water from Earth's twin planet. The...
View ArticleVenus records a rich early history
A widely held hypothesis suggests that Venus experienced catastrophic resurfacing about 500 million years ago, resulting in the burial of 80% of Venus' surface. This hypothesis predicts that Venus'...
View ArticleVenus is geologically alive, signs of recent lava flows suggest
For the first time, scientists have detected clear signs of recent lava flows on the surface of Venus. The observations reveal that volcanoes on Venus appeared to erupt between a few hundred years to...
View ArticleSurfing the alien atmosphere of Venus
Venus Express has completed an "aerodrag" campaign that used its solar wings as sails to catch faint wisps of the planet's atmosphere. The test used the orbiter as an exquisitely accurate sensor to...
View ArticleWas Venus once a habitable planet?
The European Space Agency's Venus Express is helping planetary scientists investigate whether Venus once had oceans. If it did, it may even have begun its existence as a habitable planet similar to...
View ArticleHot atmosphere of Venus might cool interior of Earth’s sister planet
The heat in the atmosphere of Venus, induced from a strong greenhouse warming, might actually have a cooling effect on the planet's interior. This counter-intuitive theory is based on calculations from...
View ArticleEarth and Venus Lightning: Similar mechanisms on the two planets
Despite the great differences between the atmospheres of Venus and Earth, scientists have discovered that very similar mechanisms produce lightning on the two planets. The rates of discharge, the...
View ArticleVenus Express finds planetary atmospheres 'such a drag'
The polar atmosphere of Venus is thinner than expected. How do we know? Because ESA's Venus Express has actually been there. Instead of looking from orbit, Venus Express has flown through the upper...
View ArticleVenus holds warning for Earth
A mysterious high-altitude layer of sulphur dioxide discovered by ESA's Venus Express has been explained. As well as telling us more about Venus, it could be a warning against injecting our atmosphere...
View ArticleVenus weather not boring after all, scientists discover
At first glance, a weather forecaster for Venus would have either a really easy or a really boring job, depending on your point of view. The climate on Venus is widely known to be unpleasant -- at the...
View ArticleVenus has an ozone layer too, space probe discovers
The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft has discovered an ozone layer high in the atmosphere of Venus. Comparing its properties with those of the equivalent layers on Earth and Mars will...
View ArticleSpace weather: Explosions on Venus
A recent study has found clear evidence on Venus for a type of space weather outburst quite common at Earth, called a hot flow anomaly.
View ArticleLarge solar flares generate geomagnetic storm
A pair of unusually large solar flares early March 7, 2012 generated a Coronal Mass Ejection that was expected to reach Earth around mid-day March 8. It will likely cause at least a strong geomagnetic...
View ArticleVenus to appear in once-in-a-lifetime event
On 5 and 6 June this year, millions of people around the world will be able to see Venus pass across the face of the Sun in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It will take Venus about six...
View ArticleHubble to use moon as mirror to see Venus transit
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will study Venus's atmosphere during an upcoming opportunity where Venus is passing in front of the Sun. Hubble cannot look at the Sun directly, so astronomers are...
View ArticleThe Transit of Venus: June 5-6, 2012
Many astronomers and members of the public in Britain will be getting up early on the morning of June 6, so they can see (using precautions to avoid permanent eye damage) the final Transit of Venus of...
View ArticleWhy Earth is not an ice ball: Possible explanation for faint young sun paradox
More than 2 billion years ago, a much fainter sun should have left the Earth as an orbiting ice ball. Why we avoided the deep freeze is a question that has puzzled scientists, but one astronomer might...
View ArticleVenus: Planetary portrait of inner beauty
A Venus transit across the face of the sun is a relatively rare event -- occurring in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. There have been all of 53 transits of Venus across the sun...
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