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The Planet Venus

Explore the unique characteristics of Venus, from its bright appearance to its extreme surface conditions. Learn about its geological activity, atmosphere, and potential implications for Earth. Discover how Venus' volcanic history has shaped its landscape and why it serves as a cautionary tale for our own planet. Uncover the secrets hidden beneath the dense clouds of this enigmatic world.

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The Planet Venus

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  1. The Planet Venus • The Moon and Mercury are geologically dead • Venus, Earth, and Mars are still active geologically • Venus is the planet nearest to Earth, sometimes approaching to within 40 million km • The orbit of Venus is nearly circular at a distance of 108 million km (0.72 AU) • Venus is very bright in the sky • “Evening star” • “Morning star” Lecture 11

  2. Appearance of Venus Enhanced picture of Venus shot through a violet filter by the Galileo spacecraft • Venus looks very bright to the naked eye and even a small telescope shows that Venus goes through phases like the Moon • The surface of Venus is always obscured by a very dense cloud cover • Reflects 70% of the sunlight • Various bands are visible in different wavelength light Lecture 11

  3. Phases of Venus • Venus appears to go through phases • Different from Moon because distance changes drastically Lecture 11

  4. Current Position of Venus and Mars • Current position of inner planets, Oct. 4 Lecture 11

  5. Basic Properties of Venus • Venus is the second planet from the Sun • Venus is nearly the same size as Earth • 12,102 km in diameter(12,756 km for Earth) • 82% the mass of Earth • Similar density, 5.3 g/cm3 (5.5 g/cm3 for Earth) • Venus takes 223 days to orbit the Sun • Venus takes 2,243days to rotate on it axis and it rotates the opposite direction of Earth Lecture 11

  6. The Atmosphere of Venus • The atmosphere of Venus causes a very high surface temperature and gives the surface a perpetual red twilight • The weather at the surface is hot, dry, calm • The pressure at the surface is 90 times the Earth’s atmospheric pressure Lecture 11

  7. Surface Temperature of Venus • The surface temperature of Venus is 700 K • 800 degrees Fahrenheit • Caused by the greenhouse effect • Venus has 1 million times more CO2 than Earth • Sunlight that diffuses through the atmosphere heats the surface and the CO2 acts as a blanket • The surface heats up until the radiation of heat is the same as the absorption of heat from the Sun • The dense atmosphere makes the temperature the same everywhere on the surface of Venus • Little weather Lecture 11

  8. Implications for Earth • The atmosphere is the result of a runaway greenhouse effect • Not just a larger greenhouse effect like the increase in CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere • Irreversible • If Venus had oceans like Earth, they would have been evaporated into water vapor • Water vapor is also a greenhouse gas • Once in the atmosphere, UV from the Sun can break up the water vapor into the constituent hydrogen and oxygen • Hydrogen can then escape • Water is permanently gone Lecture 11

  9. Probing Through the Clouds • Venus has been visited by several spacecraft • The first spacecraft to land on the surface was • Shown below is an image taken by the Russian spacecraft Venera 13 on the surface of Venus • Venera 13 landed on the surface of Venus on March 1, 1982, survived 2 hours and 7 minutes and sent back 14 pictures Lecture 11

  10. The Magellan Mission to Venus • The Magellan mission to Venus was launched May 4, 1989 and arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990 • Magellan used a high resolution radar to map the surface of Venus through the opaque clouds • Magellan worked for 4 years and mapped 98% of the surface of Venus Lecture 11

  11. Mapping the Surface of Venus 3-D view of three impact crater on the surface of Venus False color picture of Venus constructed from radar images from the Magellan space craft • The Magellan data can be processed into 3-D views of the surface of Venus Lecture 11

  12. Craters on the Surface of Venus The Mead Crater - 280 km in diameter • Dating the surface of a planet is not the same as dating the entire planet • The largest crater on Venus is the Mead Crater • Larger than the largest crater on Earth • The thick atmosphere of Venus does not protect the surface from impacts • Small projectiles burn up • Large projectile make it to the surface • There are few craters smaller than 10 km in diameter • We can use craters with diameters greater the 30 km Lecture 11

  13. Implications for the Age of the Surface • There are only about 15% as many craters on the plains of Venus as on the maria of the Moon • Gives an age of about 500 million years • Indicates Venus has an active geological history • All the craters look fresh • No evidence of erosion be volcanic activity or wind • Little has happened since the plains of Venus were resurfaced by large scale volcanic activity • Apparently Venus experienced a volcanic calamity 500 million years ago Lecture 11

  14. Volcanoes on Venus Computer generated 3-D view of Sif Mons using data from Magellan • Venus is a planet with wide-scale volcanics activity • In the lowland plains, lava renews the surface and erases craters • The are many volcanoes associated with surface hot spots • The largest volcano on Venus is Sif Mons • 3 km high, 500 km across • Caldera is 40 km across • These volcanoes result from magma reaching the surface • Pressure under the surface can cause bulges called coronae Lecture 11

  15. The Planet Mars • Mars is the third planet from the Sun • Mars is the seventh largest planet • Mars orbits the Sun in 687 days (1.88 years) • Mars has an eccentric orbit (e = 0.09) with a semimajor axis of 230 million km (1.52 AU) • Mars rotates on its axis every 24.6 hours • Mars’ axis is tilted 25.2 degrees Lecture 11

  16. Appearance of Mars • To the naked eye, Mars appears to be a small, reddish star • With a telescope, one can make out features on the surface of Mars • With the best Earth-bound telescopes, we can make out features on the order of 100 km, similar to the Moon with the naked eye • No topographical features visible • In 1877, the Italian astronomer Sciaperelli announced he saw lines on Mars that he called canale which were mistakenly translated as canals • This observation combined with the observation of the polar ice caps, led to the idea that intelligent life existed on Mars Lecture 11

  17. Lowell’s Canals • The American astronomer Lowell built an observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona and concentrated on studying Mars • Lowell claimed he saw canals on Mars and that these canals were evidence of intelligent life on Mars • Most other observers could not see the canals • The idea of canals on Mars lasted into the 1930s • Sparked the idea of “Men from Mars” Lecture 11

  18. Spacecraft Exploration of Mars Photo taken by Mariner 4 showing first unambiguous evidence for craters on Mars Photo of the caldera of Olympus Mons taken by Mariner 9 • The first visitor to Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965 • Showed a bleak planet with abundant craters, no canals • Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet in 1971 • Showed volcanoes, canyons, layered polar caps, and channels that appeared to have been cut by running water • In 1976 two Viking landers were sent to Mars • In 1997 less expensive missions were begun Lecture 11

  19. Global Properties • The diameter of Mars is 6790 km, just over half the diameter of Earth • The density of Mars is 3.9 g/cm3, suggesting that Mars has a small metallic core • Mars has no magnetic field • About half the surface consists of older, higher elevation highlands that are highly cratered, mainly in the southern hemisphere • The remaining half, mainly in the northern hemisphere, consists of young lightly cratered volcanic plains about 4 km lower than the highlands Lecture 11

  20. Main Surface Features • There are four prominent surface features on Mars • Olympus Mons: the largest mountain in the Solar System rising 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain. Its base is more than 500 km in diameter and is rimmed by a cliff 6 km (20,000 ft) high. • Tharsis: a huge bulge on the Martian surface that is about 4000 km across and 10 km high. • Valles Marineris: a system of canyons 4000 km long and from 2 to 7 km deep (top of page); • Hellas Planitia: an impact crater in the southern hemisphere over 6 km deep and 2000 km in diameter. Lecture 11

  21. Olympus Mons and Tharsis • This movie shows an animation of the Olympus Mons caldera • The opening is 65 km across • This picture shows the Tharsis bulge • Contains 12 large volcanoes • Crater history indicates activity ceased 2 billion years ago Lecture 11

  22. Mariner Valley and Hellas Planitas • Mariner Valley is 3000 km long and 8 km deep • Animation shows a fly-by along the Valley • The Hellas Impact Basin is 2100 km across and 9 km deep • CO2 frost is visible in upper globe picture Lecture 11

  23. View in the Chryse Basin Pathfinder picture showing Sojourner Viking 1 picture showing angular rocks and fine dust Pathfinder picture showing wide angle view of Chryse Planita • Viking 1 and Pathfinder landed in the Chryse Basin which may have held a shallow sea Lecture 11

  24. View in the Utopia Planita Surface here is rockier and less hilly than Chryse. Many of the rocks were ejected from nearby impact crater. Water-ice frost forms during winter • Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planita Lecture 11

  25. The Sky on Mars Noon on Mars Sunset on Mars • Pathfinder took pictures of the color of the sky on Mars • Dust particles in the atmosphere give the sky a reddish tint Lecture 11

  26. Martian Samples Meteorite ALH84001 found in Antarctica Structures that resemble fossilized life • Martian meteorites have been found in Antarctica • May have come from Mars as remnants of a large impact • Chemical composition matches • Trapped gasses match Martian composition • Some structures resemble fossilized life • Recent studies do not support those conclusions Lecture 11

  27. The Moons of Mars • Mars has two moons (more later on these moons) • Deimos • Phobos Deimos Phobos Lecture 11

  28. Clouds on Mars Water ice clouds Dust storm • The atmospheric pressure on Mars is less the 1% that of Earth • Several type of clouds form in the atmosphere of Mars • Dust clouds • Can reach planet-wide proportions • Water ice clouds • Carbon dioxide clouds • Because of the low pressure on Mars, water cannot exist as a liquid • Ice goes directly from solid to gas Lecture 11

  29. Polar Ice Caps North polar cap South polar cap • Mars has polar ice caps • Seasonal ice caps are composed of frozen CO2 • During winter, these ice caps can extend down to latitude 50 degrees • Permanent ice caps • Southern ice cap composed of CO2 and water • Northern ice cap composed of water • Water stays frozen at much higher temperatures than frozen CO2 • Huge reservoir of water the size of the Mediterranean Sea • Two caps are different because of the eccentricity of Mars’ orbit around the Sun combined with the tile of Mars’ rotational axis Lecture 11

  30. Water on the Surface of Mars Outflow network • Some evidence shows that flowing water once existed on the surface of Mars • Runoff channels • Outflow channels • Where did the water come from? • One idea is that frozen water under the surface melted and flowed Lecture 11

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