Missions to Venus

Back in on April 2006 the Venus Express probe successfully orbited around Venus when its main engine was successfully ignited to place it in a polar orbit around the planet. It was designed and built by the European Space Agency and launched by the Russian Federal Space Agency on November 9, 2005. The probe is conducting a detailed study of the Venusian atmosphere and clouds, and will also map the planet's plasma environment and surface characteristics, particularly temperatures. Its mission is intended to last a nominal 500 Earth days, or around two Venusian years. One of the first results emerging from Venus Express is the discovery that a huge double atmospheric vortex exists at the south pole of the planet.

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the sun and is about the same size as our home planet Earth. Yet Venus is extremely different because it is permanently covered in thick clouds of carbon dioxide. Hidden under these vast clouds is a surface cove with cliffs, valleys, highlands and lowlands. Venus still the hottest planet in our solar system. Venus is also the only planet to orbit the sun in a clockwise motion.

Venuses orbit

Although all planets' orbits are elliptical, Venuses orbit is the closest to circular, with an eccentricity of less than 1%.

As Venus is closer to the Sun than the Earth, it always appears in roughly the same direction from Earth as the Sun (the greatest elongation is 47.8°), so on Earth it can usually only be seen a few hours before sunrise or a few hours after sunset. However, when at its brightest, Venus may be seen during the daytime, making it one of only two heavenly bodies that can be seen both day and night (the other being the Moon). It is sometimes referred to as the "Morning Star" or the "Evening Star", and when it is visible in dark skies it is by far the brightest star-like object in the sky.

The cycle between one maximum elongation and the next lasts 584 days. After these 584 days Venus is visible in a position 72 degrees away from the previous one. Since 5 * 584 = 2920, which is equivalent to 8 * 365 Venus returns to the same point in the sky every 8 years (minus two leap days). This was known as the Sothis cycle in ancient Egypt, and was familiar to the Maya as well. Another association is with the Moon, because 2920 days equal almost exactly 99 lunations (29.5 * 99 = 2920.5).

At inferior conjunction, Venus can get closer to earth than any other planet--little more than 100 times the Moon's average distance. On December 16th, 1850, Venus reached the lowest distance to earth since 1800, with a value of 0,264138541298281 AU = 39514827 kilometres. This will be the closest approach of Venus to earth until December 16th, 2101 when Venus will reach a distance of 0,26431736 AU = 39541578 kilometres to earth.

Venuses Name

Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love, Venus.

The adjective is Venusian it is commonly used for Venus, but it is etymologically incorrect. The true adjective, coming from Latin, Venereal, is avoided because of its modern association with sexually transmitted diseases. Some astronomers use Cytherean, which comes from Cythera. Other less common adjectives include Venerean, Venerian, and Veneran.

The Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as the metal star, 金星, based on the Five Elements.

Earlier Views of Venus

In earlier times, there was considerable speculation concerning the possibility of life on Venus, sometimes with rather elaborate characteristics. In 1686 a French "man of letters", Bernard de Fontenelle, wrote that

I can tell from here . . . what the inhabitants of Venus are like; they resemble the Moors of Granada; a small black people, burned by the sun, full of wit and fire, always in love, writing verse, fond of music, arranging festivals, dances, and tournaments every day. (As Quoted in National Geographic, June, 1975)

Now apart from the fact that this description is rather unremarkable because it sounds like an everyday student life around a great University , it turns out that monsieur de Fontenelle was quite incorrect about Venus and its conjectured inhabitants.