Venus Planetary System
Ominous Venus ! ! :megaman: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080226.html Mysterious Acid Haze on Venus Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany Explanation: Why did an acidic haze spread across Venus? The unusual clouds were discovered last July by ESA's robotic Venus Express spacecraft currently orbiting Venus. The bright and smooth haze was found by Venus Express to be rich in sulfuric acid, created when an unknown process lifted water vapor and sulphur dioxide from lower levels into Venus' upper atmosphere. There, sunlight broke these molecules apart and some of them recombined into the volatile sulfuric acid. Over the course of just a few days last July, the smooth acidic clouds spread from the South Pole of Venus across half the planet. The above false-color picture of Venus was taken last July 23rd in ultraviolet light, and shows the unusual haze as relatively smooth regions across the image bottom. The cause of the dark streaks in the clouds is also not yet understood and is being researched.

ANGRY VENUS, WORLD OV STORMZ MINT PIECE :salute: :salute:

Key molecule discovered in Venus's atmosphere‏ Venus Express has detected the molecule hydroxyl on another planet for the first time. This detection gives scientists an important new tool to unlock the workings of Venus's dense atmosphere. More at: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM7YJ0YUFF_index_0.html

New details on venusian clouds revealed‏ As ESA's Venus Express orbits our sister planet, new images of the cloud structure of one of the most enigmatic atmospheres of the Solar System reveal brand-new details. More at: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM49DNKRGF_index_0.html :megaman: Southern hemisphere of Venus in the ultraviolet New details on venusian clouds revealed 30 May 2008 As ESA's Venus Express orbits our sister planet, new images of the cloud structure of one of the most enigmatic atmospheres of the Solar System reveal brand-new details. Venus is covered by a thick layer of clouds that extends between 45 and 70 km above the surface. These rapidly-moving clouds are mainly composed of micron-sized droplets of sulphuric acid and other aerosols (fine solid or liquid droplets suspended in a gas), the origin of which is unknown. Earlier missions have shown that the clouds resemble Earth's light fogs, but their thickness creates an impenetrable veil. The Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board Venus Express has been observing the top of the cloud layer in visible, near-infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths. Ultraviolet observations have shown a wealth of new details including a variety of markings created by variable concentrations of different aerosols located at the top of the cloud layer. Cloud structures at Venus’ low latitudes Cloud structures at Venus’ low latitudes The first image presented here (top of the article) is a global view of the southern hemisphere of Venus, obtained from a distance of 30 000 km. The south pole is at the bottom, while equator is at the top. The appearance of the cloud veil changes dramatically from the equator to the pole. At low latitudes, the shapes are spotty and fragmented. This is indicative of vigorous, convective movement – like that of boiling water in a pot – powered by the radiation of the sun heating the clouds and the atmosphere itself. The bright lace visible on top of the darker cloud deck is made of freshly formed droplets of sulphuric acid. At mid latitudes, the scene changes – convective patterns give way to more streaky clouds indicating that convection is weaker here, as the amount of sunlight absorbed by the atmosphere decreases. At high latitudes, the cloud structure changes again. Here it appears as a dense, almost featureless haze forming a kind of polar cap or 'hood' on Venus. The dark, circular feature visible at the lower edge of the image is one of the dark streaks usually present in the polar region, indicating atmospheric parcels spiralling around and towards the pole. Another view of Cloud structures at Venus’s low latitudes Another view of Cloud structures at Venus’s low latitudes Additional images provide close-up views of the structures described above and show details never seen before. This is possible thanks to the elongated orbit of Venus Express, which allows imaging of the same phenomena from decreasing distances. The second and third images zoom-in on the equatorial region, showing details of the cloud top and of the bright lace of sulphuric acid, from 20 000 and 15 000 km respectively. Close-up on venusian clouds at mid-latitudes Close-up on venusian clouds at mid-latitudes The fourth image from the top is a close-up on the transition region between the equatorial regions dominated by convection and the mid-latitudes populated by streaky clouds. This region is located at about 40-50 degrees latitude and was imaged from a distance of about 15 000 km. The way the transition between structures and dynamics so different from each other occurs, is one of the outstanding enigmas in our understanding Venus. Close-up on venusian cloud structures at the south pole Close-up on venusian cloud structures at the south pole The second-last image, obtained from a distance of about 20 000 km, is a zoom-in on the south polar 'hood', located inside a 60-degree-latitude circle. This region varies greatly on time scales of days. In this particular case it is very bright and uniform and lacks small-scale markings. However several global dark streaks visible here usually cross the polar regions and seem to indicate strong 'jet' winds. Cloud structures along the northern hemisphere of Venus Cloud structures along the northern hemisphere of Venus The last image, a mosaic composed of 40 single ultraviolet images, covers latitudes from the equator (bottom) to the northern polar regions (top). The transition from mottled clouds in low latitudes to streaky patterns at mid-latitudes is quite similar to that observed in the southern hemisphere. This suggests a global north-south symmetry of the overall cloud structure at Venus. Notes for editors: The VMC consortium includes the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), the Institute of Planetary Research (IPF, DLR, Berlin), and the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering (IDA, TU Braunschweig), all located in Germany. For more information: Dmitri Titov, VMC co-investigator, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany Email: Titov @ mps.mpg.de Richard Moissl, VMC co-investigator, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany Email: Moissl @ mps.mpg.de Wojciech Markiewicz, VMC Principal Investigator, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany Email: Markiewicz @ mps.mpg.de Håkan Svedhem, ESA Venus Express Project Scientist Email: Hakan.Svedhem @ esa.int

http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-12704/ New details in the clouds of Venus are revealed 5 June 2008 zum Bild Cloud structure of the Venusian southern hemisphere in UV light As ESA's Venus Express continues to orbit around our sister planet, new images of the cloud structure of one of the most enigmatic atmospheres of the Solar System reveal brand-new details. Venus is covered by a thick layer of clouds extending between 45 and 70 km altitude over the surface. These rapidly moving clouds are mainly composed of micron-size droplets of sulphuric acid and other aerosols whose origin is still unknown. An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid or liquid droplets in a gas. Earlier missions showed that Venus clouds resemble Earth's mists, but their great vertical extension eventually creates unpenetratable veil. The Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board Venus Express has been relentlessly observing the top of the cloud layer, reaching up to 70 km, in visible, near-infrared and ultraviolet light. In particular, ultraviolet observations at 365 nm have shown a wealth of new details on mid- to large-scale cloud structures. These include a variety of markings created by variable concentrations of different aerosols located at the top of the cloud layer. These aerosols absorb ultraviolet light differently from each other, becoming visible to VMC. zum Bild Detailed view of the clouds of Venus The first image shown at the top of this article provides a global view of the southern hemisphere of Venus, obtained from a distance of 30 000 km. The south pole is in the bottom, while equator is on the top. The appearance of the cloud veil changes dramatically from the equator to the pole. At low latitudes, the shapes are spotty and fragmented. This is indicative of a vigorous convective movement - like that of boiling water in a pot - powered by the radiation of the Sun heating the clouds and the atmosphere itself. The bright lace visible on top of the darker cloud deck is made of freshly formed droplets of sulphuric acid. At mid latitudes the scene changes - convective patterns leave place to more streaky clouds indicating that the convection is weaker as the amount of absorbed sunlight decreases. At high latitudes, the cloud structure changes again. Here it all appears as a dense, almost featureless haze forming some kind of polar 'cap' or 'hood' on Venus. The dark circular feature visible at the lower edge of the image is one of the dark streaks usually present in the polar region, indicating atmospheric parcels spiralling around and towards the pole. Hitherto unseen details of the Venusian soup zum Bild Mosaic picture from the North Pole to the Equator Additional images provide close-up views of the structures described above and show details never seen before. This is possible thanks to the elongated orbit of Venus Express, that allows the spacecraft to image the same phenomena from decreasing distances as it approaches the planet. Above, we see a composite of four images. The top two in the composite provide a zoom-in on the equatorial region, showing details of the cloud top and of the bright lace of sulphuric acid, from 20 000 and 15 000 km respectively. The bottom left in the composite provides a close-up on the region of transition between the equatorial area dominated by convection and the mid-latitude area populated by streaky clouds. This region is located at about 40-50 degrees latitude and was imaged from a distance of about 15 000 km. The way the transition between structures and dynamics so different from each other occurs, is one of the outstanding enigmas in our current comprehension of Venus. The final image in the composite, obtained from a distance of about 20 000 km, is a zoom-in on the south polar 'hood', located inside a 60-degree-latitude circle. This region is highly variable on time scales of days. In this particular case it shows a very bright and uniform appearance and lacks small-scale markings. However several global dark streaks here and usually cross the polar regions and seem to indicate strong 'jet' winds. The mosaic shown on the right is composed of more than 40 single UV images taken by VMC during a pericentre pass. Distance to the planet decreased from about 5 000 km above the equator (bottom) to 1 000 km in Northern polar regions (top) resulting in shrinking of the VMC field of view from 1 500 to 300 km. The mosaic traverses the northern hemisphere. The transition from mottled clouds in low latitudes to streaky patterns at middle latitudes is quite similar to that observed in the Southern hemisphere (the first image in the article). This suggests global North-South symmetry of the cloud morphology on Venus. Contact Henning Krause German Aerospace Center Corporate Communication Tel.: +49 2203 601-2502 Fax: +49 2203 601-3249 Prof.Dr. Ralf Jaumann German Aerospace Center Institute of Planetary Research, Planetary Geology Tel.: +49 30 67055-400 Fax: +49 30 67055-402 Dr. Dmitri Titov Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, VMC Co-Investigator Tel.: +49 5556 979-212

Exploring Venus - Answering the Big Questions with Venus Express Håkan Svedhem, et al http://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bulletin135/bul135a_svedhem.pdf

-- First Venus Express public data release http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=26492 "Data from the VMC, SPICAV-SOIR, VIRTIS and MAG instruments on Venus Express have been delivered to the ESA Planetary System Archive and are now freely available to interested users. These data have been the basis for some of the first scientific highlights from the Venus Express mission." Wind circulation on Venus How windy is it on Venus? Venus Express answers 18 September 2008 It is well known that winds on Venus are extremely fast and powerful. Now, ESA’s Venus Express has, for the first time, put together a 3-D picture of the venusian winds for an entire planetary hemisphere. The most powerful atmospheric investigator ever sent to Venus, Venus Express has an advantageous orbit around the planet and a unique set of instruments. The spacecraft has the ability to peer through Venus’s thick atmospheric layers and obtain a truly global picture. The spacecraft has continuously monitored the planet since observations began in 2006, and scientists now have enough data to start building a complete picture of the planet’s atmospheric phenomena. The Venus Express Visual and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS, has been studying the thick blanket of clouds that surround Venus, gathering data on the winds. The area studied spans altitudes of 45 to 70 km above the surface and covers the entire southern hemisphere, up to the equator. It is above the southern hemisphere that Venus Express reaches its highest point in orbit (about 66 000 km), allowing the instruments to obtain a global view. Studying the winds on Venus Agustin Sánchez-Lavega, from the Universidad del País Vasco in Bilbao, Spain, led the research on 3-D wind mapping with data from the first year of VIRTIS observations. “We focused on the clouds and their movement. Tracking them for long periods of time gives us a precise idea of the speed of the winds that make the clouds move and of the variation in the winds,” he said. Tracking the clouds at different altitudes is possible only if the instrument is able to look through the curtain of clouds. “VIRTIS operates at different wavelengths, each of which penetrates the cloud layer to a different altitude,” added Ricardo Hueso, also from the Universidad del País Vasco, co-author of the results. “We studied three atmospheric layers and followed the movement of hundreds of clouds in each. This has never been done before at such large temporal and spatial scales, and with multi-wavelength coverage.” “We studied three atmospheric layers and followed the movement of hundreds of clouds in each. This has never done before at such large temporal, and spatial scales, and with multi-wavelength coverage.” In total, the team tracked 625 clouds at about 66 km altitude, 662 at around 61 km altitude, and 932 at about 45-47 km altitude, on the day and night sides of the planet. The individual cloud layers were imaged over several months for about 1-2 hours each time. “We have learnt that between the equator and 50-55˚ latitude south, the speed of the winds varies a lot, from about 370 km/h at a height of 66 km down to about 210 km/h at 45-47 km”, said Sánchez-Lavega. “At latitudes higher than 65˚, the situation changes dramatically - the huge hurricane-like vortex structure present over the poles takes over. All cloud levels are pushed on average by winds of the same speed, independently of the height, and their speed drops to almost zero at the centre of the vortex.” Sánchez-Lavega and colleagues observed that the speed of the zonal winds (which blow parallel to the lines of latitude) strongly depend on the local time. The difference in the Sun's heat reaching Venus in the mornings and in the evenings - called the solar tide effect - influences the atmospheric dynamics greatly, making winds blow more strongly in the evenings. On average, the winds regain their original speeds every five days, but the mechanism that produces this periodicity needs further investigation. “VIRTIS is continuing its observations, and over the next few years we expect to understand more precisely how stable or variable the venusian winds at the upper and lower cloud layers are,” concluded Giuseppe Piccioni, from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Rome, Italy, co-Principal Investigator for the VIRTIS instrument. Notes for editors: The results appear in the 10 July issue of the Geophysical Research Letters journal, in the article ‘Variable winds on Venus mapped in three dimensions’, by A. Sánchez-Lavega, R.Hueso, J.Peralta, S.Pérez-Hoyos (Universidad del País Vasco in Bilbao, Spain), G.Piccioni (Ist. Nazionale di Astrofisica and Ist. Di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Rome, Italy), P.Drossart and S.Erard (Observatoire de Paris/LESIA, France), C.F.Wilson and F.W.Taylor (University of Oxford, UK), K.H.Baines (NASA/JPL, Pasadena, CA, USA), D.Luz (Observatoire de Paris/LESIA, France, and Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Portugal), S.Lebonnois (CNRS/UPMC, Paris, France). For more information: Agustin Sánchez-Lavega, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain Email: Agustin.Sanchez @ ehu.es Ricardo Hueso, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain Email: Ricardo.Hueso @ ehu.es Giuseppe Piccioni, VIRTIS co-Principal Investigator, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Rome, Italy Email: Giuseppe.Piccioni @ iasf-roma.inaf.it Pierre Drossart, VIRTIS co-Principal Investigator, Observatoire de Paris-LESIA, France Email: Pierre.Drossart @ obspm.fr Håkan Svedhem, ESA Venus Express Project Scientist Email: Hakan.Svedhem @ esa.int