Category Archives: venus

venus

Venus, the Planet

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A Hell of a Planet

In honor of the transit of Venus, NASA-JPL offered up a look at our “sister” neighbor planet. It’s a gorgeous evening/morning star as seen from Earth, but if you were to travel there, you’d find it be less than gorgeous. Or, you might say it has a terrifying beauty of its own.

Lighting on Venus, as visualized by an artist. Credit: ESA.

“Venus is a fascinating yet horrendously extreme place all at once,” explains Sue Smrekar, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Although the surface is hot enough to melt lead due to its runaway greenhouse atmosphere, in many respects it is Earth’s twin [in size, gravity and bulk composition].”

Decades of exploration of Venus using spacecraft in orbit and flying by our “twin” has shown us a volcanic world smothered in clouds, and a world with an oppressive atmosphere that is so heavy it could crush a human standing on its surface. What’s not to like about that? Particularly if you’re a planetary scientist, Venus offers a fascinating place to study. I’ve often heard that it perfectly fits the old vision of what Hell would be like (if it existed): hot, oppressive, inescapable, and torturous. Great place to visit if you can breathe carbon dioxide, stand up to sulfuric acid rain, and you revel in dodging electrical storms and volcanoes.

Well, nothing says every world in the solar system has to be like Earth. In fact, it’s great that we have this array of worlds to study, including Venus. What we learn there and at other places in our solar system will help us understand the worlds we are finding around other stars. Which, poetically enough, will help us understand our own origins as a star and planetary system even more. Think about that as you watch the transit of Venus tomorrow!

'Casts, eclipses, transit of venus, venus, Venus Express

Things that Block Light

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Eclipses and Transits and More Eclipses, Oh My

A partial phase of the annular eclipse, shot through solar filter material using a Sony Cybershot. Copyright 2012 Carolyn Collins Petersen.

It’s been a banner couple of weeks for interesting celestial events. First, like many folks, I got to see the annular eclipse of the Sun on May 20th.  We went to southern Utah to get a clear view of the Moon slipping between Earth and the Sun and almost (but  not quite) blocking out all the sunlight. What we saw was a pretty amazing “ring” of light.  I took a few pictures, like the one here, but mostly I just sat and watched it.

We’ve chased a few eclipses now (we’re four for six), so instead of running around and trying to get the best pictures and video, we like to sit and watch. Oh, we did do some automated photography — just let the camera and timer do all the work.  But, mostly we watched. And were rewarded with a cool view that doesn’t come along very often.

In the national park where we viewed (Kolob Canyon, part of Zion National Park), we talked with various people who had driven over from California or Las Vegas or Colorado, and everyone seemed excited about the eclipse.  There were a few telescopes and cameras with solar filters set up, and a fair number of people using the pinhole projection method of viewing the eclipse. So, I was gratified to see that the campaign of “NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN WITHOUT PROTECTION” was paying off.  It’s common sense, but still, in the heat of an eclipse sometimes even seasoned veterans forget the rule and take a peek, risking their eyesight forever.

The next big event is the Transit of Venus, which occurs June 5/6 (date depends on where you live), when Venus’s orbit will take it across the face of the Sun for several hours.  These don’t occur very often; they happen in pairs every hundred or so years, so the next one after this one will be in the year 2117.  If you’re inclined to take a look, the same rules apply: don’t look directly at the Sun, use proper filters (NOT SUNGLASSES), and enjoy!  There’s a ton of information out there about the transit, so if you want to know more about it, go here, or  here. I even talk about it in my monthly edition of “Our Night Sky” for Astrocast.TV, which you can watch below.

Finally, there’s a little bit of a lunar eclipse occurring tomorrow June 4th.  The best places for viewing this eclipse will be in and near the Pacific Ocean, according to the folks at eclipse.nasa.gov.  However, people in the Americas will see part of it, as will people in eastern Asia.  If you want to watch as part of the Moon slips through Earth’s shadow, get more information at the link above.

It’s kinda cool that three events that are the result of sunlight being blocked by celestial objects are occurring so close together. There’s nothing magical about it, but there is something fascinating to watch, so check out the transit and the eclipse (if they’re visible where you live).  Participate in observing!  That’s what astronomy’s all about!