Tag

Venus

All articles tagged with #venus

space9 days ago•10 min saved

Venera 13's 127-Minute Triumph: First Color Portraits and Ground Analysis from Venus

Venera 13 landed on Venus in 1982 with a planned 32-minute surface life but transmitted data for 127 minutes, drilling a ground sample, analyzing it with X-ray fluorescence, and returning the first color photographs from Venus’s surface. The mission demonstrated how a robust pressure vessel, insulation, and careful thermal design can extend operation in extreme heat and pressure, setting a benchmark for surface data duration and informing future Venus missions, though it represented a single-site snapshot rather than a global geological picture. No spacecraft has transmitted from Venus’s surface since 1985, making the Venera 13 record a lasting milestone in planetary exploration.

via Space Daily|

#color-photography #soil-analysis #space

science12 days ago•13 min saved

Earth and Venus: near-twins with divergent fates and a metallic frost mystery

Earth and Venus are nearly the same size and gravity, but Venus may host a radar-bright highland coating of lead- and bismuth-sulfide compounds—metallic frost that is not yet confirmed. The mystery ties into how two similar worlds evolved such different climates and histories, and NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS missions will probe Venus’s atmosphere and surface to constrain its past water, atmospheric chemistry, and surface composition, while leaving the timing and exact path of their divergence unresolved.

via Space Daily|

#earth #metallic-frost #planetary-science

science15 days ago•12 min saved

Venus’s 50-km Sky: a breathable, buoyant habitat floating in acid clouds

At about 50 km above Venus’s surface, pressure and temperature become Earth-like enough that breathable air could act as a lifting gas for a large aerostat habitat. While the idea is theoretically viable and could shield residents from some surface hazards, major practical hurdles remain: the sulfuric-acid cloud deck would demand long‑lasting protective materials, life-support and closed‑loop systems, power and waste handling, and the logistics of entry, deployment and ascent. NASA’s HAVOC-style studies show the concept is serious in theory, but it is not a ready plan—Venus may offer an elegant engineering possibility rather than a habitable world in the clouds.

via Space Daily|

#aerostat #buoyancy #science

science18 days ago•12 min saved

Mercury Overtakes Venus as Earth's Average Nearest Neighbor

A 10,000-year orbital simulation finds Mercury is Earth’s nearest planet on average (about 1.04 AU) while Venus can make closer approaches, revealing that ‘nearest’ has three meanings: closest approach, instant proximity, and the smallest long-term average distance; the result explains why textbooks often cite Venus for closest approach even though Mercury is closer on average.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #earth #mercury

space18 days ago•12 min saved

Venus clouds may be 60% water by mass, challenging the sulfuric-acid image

A peer‑reviewed reanalysis of NASA’s 1978 Pioneer Venus data suggests that material trapped in Venus’s middle-to-lower cloud aerosols is about 60% water by mass, with ferric sulphate and sulphuric acid each contributing ~20%. The water is likely bound in hydrated minerals rather than free liquid water, and the finding is provisional, based on an unplanned aerosol collection during descent. While it does not imply life in the clouds, it reopens questions about cloud chemistry and underscores the need for a dedicated aerosol instrument on a future mission (e.g., NASA’s DAVINCI) to test these compositions directly.

via Space Daily|

#clouds #habitability #hydrated-salts

space18 days ago•5 min saved

A 1973 Venus Flyby: NASA's 396-Day Three-Astronaut Interplanetary Dream

NASA once explored a bold 1973 plan to send three astronauts on a 396-day Venus flyby using modified Apollo hardware and a Saturn V, with a wet-workshop habitat in the S-IVB and gravity assist to return to Earth while deploying atmospheric probes; the mission would have tested year-long life support and deep-space operations, but budget and political priorities shifted, ending the proposal and shaping Skylab as the lasting offshoot of Apollo-era spaceflight.

via 19FortyFive|

#apollo #nasa #skylab

lifestyle19 days ago•4 min saved

Venus in Libra Sparks Five-Sign Horoscope Glow-Up on August 6, 2026

On August 6, 2026, Venus moves into Libra, aligning with the Vertex to boost favorable horoscopes for five signs—Libra, Aquarius, Gemini, Leo, and Aries—through September 10. Expect personal glow-ups, clearer goals, budding romance, fairer communication, and stronger work or partnership opportunities as the energy shifts toward relationships and justice.

via YourTango|

#astrology #horoscopes #libra

space22 days ago•10 min saved

Venus: Earth's near-twin turned runaway-greenhouse furnace

Venus is almost Earth’s twin in size but hosts a surface around 465°C under about 92 times Earth’s atmospheric pressure, due to a runaway greenhouse that likely began when oceans evaporated as the Sun brightened. The planet may have started habitable before losing its water, contrasting with Mars’ fate. Now NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS and Europe’s EnVision will probe whether Venus was ever wet and what pushed it into a lethal climate—lessons about how narrow the conditions for habitability really are.

via Space Daily|

#atmospheric-pressure #earth-twin #runaway-greenhouse

space23 days ago•6 min saved

Venus May Have Hosted Global Oceans Across Most of Its Surface

A new study suggests Venus’s surface features resemble giant marine signatures, indicating oceans may have covered up to about 90% of the planet and held around 40% as much water as Earth’s oceans. The researchers point to polygonal fault patterns, vast submarine-like channels, and salt-deposit evidence as clues; while not conclusive, the findings imply Venus once had a global sea before a runaway greenhouse effect ended it within the last billion years, a hypothesis future missions EnVision and VERITAS could test.

via ScienceAlert|

#geology #oceans #planetary-science

space24 days ago•139 min saved

August 12 Skywatching Bonanza: Eclipse, Perseids, Venus and the Milky Way

On Aug. 12, 2026, skywatchers across North America and Europe can enjoy a daytime solar eclipse, followed by Venus at dichotomy after sunset and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower under moonless skies, with the Milky Way visible later in the night. The event offers a rare 24-hour sequence (partial to total eclipse in parts of the world; bright Venus after sunset; up to 50–75 meteors per hour under dark skies), plus region-by-region viewing notes (e.g., Alaska and the Northeast for eclipse timing; London and Paris near-total). Observers are urged to use ISO-certified solar glasses and proper filters for optics, with the best meteor viewing around midnight–2 a.m. local time. It could be one of the year's premier skywatching opportunities.

via Live Science|

#eclipse #milky-way #perseid

science25 days ago•8 min saved

Venus Might Still Be Rifting: New 3D Models Point to an Active Interior

New high-resolution 3D simulations indicate Venus's crust is still being stretched by interior heat, forming giant rift valleys and suggesting recent or ongoing tectonic activity; Magellan radar maps resemble young rift flanks, and upcoming missions VERITAS, DAVINCI, and EnVision will probe Venus’s active deformation.

via SciTechDaily|

#geology #rift-valleys #science

space27 days ago•131 min saved

Buck Moon Sparks a Summer Sky Parade

July's Buck Moon rises tonight (July 29) at 10:36 a.m. EDT, illuminating the Moon as Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Mars trail in a mini planetary parade across the summer sky; look to the southwestern horizon at sunset for the best view, note the Moon Illusion may make it appear larger near the horizon, and use binoculars or a telescope to spot the planets, with Space.com offering photography tips.

via Space|

#buck-moon #full-moon #mercury

space28 days ago•130 min saved

Daylight Duel: ISS and Venus Captured Together by AJ Smadi

Astrophotographer AJ Smadi captured a daytime image of the International Space Station passing Venus near Seattle on July 18, 2026, using a 9.25-inch Celestron SCT and a ZWO ASI662MC with UV/IR filters. The feat, achieved in daylight with careful planning, follows Smadi’s earlier success and echoes NASA’s recognition of his work in Astronomy Picture of the Day, highlighting how challenging and rare it is to photograph these two celestial bodies side-by-side in daylight.

via Space|

#aj-smadi #astrophotography #daytime-photography

science29 days ago•8 min saved

Venus May Harbor Ring-shaped Polarization Signals From Atmospheric Waves

A 2010 Venus observation with the Extreme Polarimeter showed possible concentric rings visible only in polarized light; initially suspected as an instrument artifact, simulations indicate 5–10% upper-atmosphere density variations caused by atmospheric gravity waves could produce similar rings. The signal hasn’t yet been replicated, but the authors published their findings to spur further observations with newer polarimeters, which could reveal how Venus’ atmospheric waves transport energy and relate to its famous superrotation.

via ScienceAlert|

#atmosphere #gravity-waves #polarization

space1 month ago•12 min saved

Old Soviet Venus Capsule May Have Survived Re-entry and Returned to Earth

A descent capsule from Kosmos 482, the 1972 Soviet Venus mission, re-entered Earth's atmosphere on 10 May 2025 after 53 years in orbit; radar tracked a re-entry window with no confirmed landing, and while analyses suggest the capsule's Venus-designed titanium shell could have survived re-entry and remained largely intact, there is no direct recovery or conclusive landing evidence.

via Space Daily|

#kosmos-482 #re-entry #soviet-space-program