Lyceum B - Astronomy - Week 22 - Venus
- Apr 10, 2022
- 5 min read
Venus is between Earth and Mercury. Except for the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky. This is because its could cover reflects so much sunlight back out into space.
Venus is often called the Morning or Evening Star because this is when it is best seen reflecting the light of the Sun.
Venus is about the same size as Earth.
It has an atmosphere that is made of carbon dioxide and has an atmospheric pressure 90 times stronger than Earth’s.
The atmosphere traps in heat from the Sun, heating the surface to 870°F - so hot, the surface glows in the dark.
There are frequent lightening storms. Venus probably had oceans at some point in its past.
It has huge volcanoes and lava lakes of liquid metal with clouds made of sulfuric acid (from the volcano eruptions) heavy enough to crush a person. These clouds completely cover Venus so that we can not see beneath them to the surface.
Scientists use radar waves to gather information about the surface of Venus. The radar waves hit the terrain of Venus and bounces back. By studying the radar waves, scientists can determine the height and shape of the Venus landscape.
From Space.com:
Below is the most recent photo taken of Venus by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe sent back on July 2020.
From chronic.com:
According to NASA, though, the image is full of surprises. As Space.com put it, Venus “looks nothing like what scientists expected to see.”
In a statement released this week,NASA scientists explained that the camera on-board the Parker Solar Probe, known as the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (or WISPR), captured an image of a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be night glow and the planet’s Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface, which is known to be about 85 degrees cooler than its surroundings.
This is exciting and all, but according to NASA, they were only expecting to see some clouds.
This means that either the WISPR device that we shot up into space doesn’t really work the way we thought it would. Instead of just capturing visible light, the images suggest that the camera may also be able to pick up near-infrared wavelengths of light, which could allow scientists to conduct further research on dust around the Sun and in the solar system.
Or - and this is where I get a little freaked out - it could mean that changes are happening in the normally thick, cloudy Venusian atmosphere that Earthlings were not yet aware of.
“Either way,”Angelos Vourlidas, the scientist who helped develop WISPR, said, “some exciting science opportunities await us.”
The latest photos were from the probe’s July 2020 flyby of Venus. The probe passed the planet again earlier this month, on February 20, and the WISPR team planned to capture more images to draw a conclusion from. Still it won’t be until the end of April before the images make it back to Earth.
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From hindustantimes.com:
Upon receiving clear pictures of the Venusian surface, Angelos Vourlidas, the WISPR project scientist from John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland who closely worked with the WISPR campaign, in a statement released by the space agency said,”That aspect of the image took the team by surprise. WISPR is tailored and tested for visible light observations. We expected to see clouds, but the camera peered right through to the surface.”
Brian Wood, who is an astrophysicist and WISPR team member from the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington said the images were similar to Japan’s Venus-orbiting Akatsuki mission. He said, “WISPR effectively captured the thermal emission of the Venusian surface. It’s very similar to images acquired by the Akatsuki spacecraft at near-infrared wavelengths.”
NASA in their statement also said that more fascinating pictures will be seen later this year as WISPR completed another flyby of the planet last week. “For more insight into the July 2020 images, the WISPR team planned a set of similar observations of the Venusian nightside during Parker Solar Probe’s latest Venus flyby on Feb. 20,2021. Mission team scientists expect to receive and process that data for analysis by the end of April.” The statement said.
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Radar Mapping Project
Need yellow poster board, different size and color wooden building blocks
Have someone build a landscape from he blocks with hills and valleys, but don’t look at what they have done.
On the poster board, draw a grid using a ruler and pen. Leave 2 inches between each line. Have the builder of the landscape place the poster board in front of the landscape with the grid facing you.
Tie a piece of string around an eraser leaving about 20 inches of length. Without looking at the landscape, dangle the eraser over the side of the pasteboard until it hits the landscape blocks and can go no further.
Pinch the string at the top of the grid and bring it back to your grid side and let it dangle from that pinched point. Use a pen to mark an x on the poster board grid where the eraser is located on the grid.
Repeat these steps moving the eraser one spot over until you have mapped at least 10 spots. Now use your pen to connect these “x”s.
You have now used your own form of “radar” to map something you can not visually see. Take away the poster board and see how accurate your map was to the block landscape.
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Greenhouse Project
You will need 2 thermometers, a blue piece of pasteboard and a red poster board, a glass jar and some plastic wrap
Mount the two thermometers each on a poster board - one on red and one on blue with plastic putty so they stick.
Place one poster board thermometer is a glass jar with the top opening covered with plastic wrap and place the jar in direct sunlight. Place the other poster board thermometer in direct sunlight, but not in a jar.
After an hour, record the difference between the temperature trapped in a glass jar where the heat can not escape and the temperature in the open air where the heat can escape.
On Venus, the Sun’s heat is trapped by gases in the atmosphere.
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Phases of Venus Project
When viewed from Earth, Venus seems to go through shape phases just like the Moon does.
Galileo was the first person to notice this when looking through a telescope. By looking through binoculars or a small telescope, you can see these phases.
We can demonstrate what is happening with foam board, a drawing compass, a small light bulb, a battery, and 2 wires with clips.
On a sheet of black foam board, use a compass and pencil and draw a 6 inch diameter circle. Cut out the circle.
Make a small hole in the center of the circle and insert a lightbulb base.
Connect the bulb base to the battery with 2 wires and clips.
Take a foam ball and make a small hole in the foam to stick an end of a toothpick into the ball. Then stick the toothpick into the outer edge of the foam board circle, so it stands upright.
Connect the wire clips to the battery so the battery lights up. Turn off all of the room lights so the room is dark except for the little lightbulb. Gradually make the ball (Venus) orbit around the lightbulb (Sun) and se how you can only see parts of the ball from your position (you will be Earth).
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Videos
History of Astronomy Part 3: Copernicus and Heliocentrism - 7 min
The Moon: Crash Course Astronomy #12 - 9:50 min
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