Mysterious Haze Found on Venus SPACE.com staff

SPACE.com
Fri Feb 22, 12:45 PM ET



Bright hazes that mysteriously appear and then disappear on Venus in a matter of days have revealed a new dynamic feature of the planet's cloudy atmosphere that is unlike anything on Earth.

The European Space Agency's Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) captured a series of images showing the development of a bright haze over the southern latitudes of the planet in July 2007. Over a period of days, the high-altitude veil continually brightened and dimmed, moving towards equatorial latitudes and then back towards the south pole.
These transient dark and bright markings indicate regions on the cloud-covered world where solar ultraviolet radiation is being absorbed and reflected by sulfuric acid particles, mission scientists said this week.

Gaseous sulfur dioxide and small amounts of water vapor are usually found below altitudes of about 43 miles (70 kilometers) in Venus' carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere. These molecules are usually shrouded from view by cloud layers above that block our view to the surface at visible wavelengths.

ESA scientists think the sulfuric acid particles that make up the bright haze are created when some atmospheric process lifts the gaseous sulfur dioxide and water vapor high up above the cloud tops where they are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

The UV radiation breaks up the molecules, making them highly reactive. The fragments of the molecules eagerly seek each other out and combine to form the sulfuric acid particles.

"The process is a bit similar to what happens with urban smog over cities," said mission team member Dmitri Titov of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany.

Exactly what causes the sulfur dioxide and water vapor to well up is not known, but Titov says it is likely some internal process of Venus' atmosphere.

The transient dark markings on the VMC images are even more of a mystery. They are caused by something that absorbs UV radiation, but scientists don't yet know what the chemical is.

it's all a lie...the air is just great.Better then here.Planet Claire though,well that's another planet.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AOKPTbZEyA

from Astronomy Picture of the Day

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080226.html

That's a nice picture...very pretty planet.It's even more beautifull on the surface.And the air is even better than here.

could you please explain why you believe the air is better there than here?

No cars,no pollution.Clean,very breathable air.There is no oil there,so the Haliburton people can just forget it...lol

Naturally clean, but inhabitable.

It's the hottest planet on Earth. Atmospheric pressure is many many times that of Earth, There's no oxygen.

the pressure of Venus' atmosphere at the surface is 90 atmospheres (about the same as the pressure at a depth of 1 km in Earth's oceans).

It is composed mostly of carbon dioxide. There are several layers of clouds many kilometers thick composed of sulfuric acid. These clouds completely obscure our view of the surface.

This dense atmosphere produces a run-away greenhouse effect that raises Venus' surface temperature by about 400 degrees to over 740 K (hot enough to melt lead). Venus' surface is actually hotter than Mercury's despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun.

from

http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html

It's the hottest planet on Earth?I know ya meant solar system but naw,it's just as cool as earth.It is BEAUTIFUL.

You know, you should really inform yourself before making such absurd claims, you are making a fool of yourself. Ok lets start:

First of all,the image you saw there is not in true color, this meaning that Venus is NOT BLUE. Please find the interest to search for pictures of venus in true color.

Ok nevermind, I'll do the work for you, here is a pic in true color of Venus:



Second of all, the atmosphere of Venus is POISONOUS to any living organism here on Earth, this meaning that YOU CANNOT BREATHE on Venus. The density of the atmosphere is of a very HIGH density, actually one of the highest densities we have in the solar system, this ALSO meaning that you CANNOT breathe on Venus. To be exact the desity is about 65 kg/m³. Do you even know what desity means? I hope so. Here, I'll provide you with a source of information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

And third and last, the atmosphere of Venus contains a really high amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), do you know what that is? For the sake of us, I hope so. This carbon dioxide creates a greenhouse effect of extreme measures on the surface of this planet ( do you know what a greenhouse effect is?), this MEANS that, the atmosphere of Venus IS VERY HIGH, to be exact: +460ºC.

Please dear man, inform yourself before arguing such topic with people who DO KNOW on this. Thank you.

Cheers.

P.S. MarkSteven, could you please resize the pic?

To be exact the desity is about 65 kg/m³. Do you even know what desity means? I hope so. Here, I'll provide you with a source of information:
......................I have to plead ignorance on this one.No,i dont know what desity is.You must be right.You win.Lol............ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Wtqg2xnnY...feature=related

I think you, dear sir, very well know what I'm talking about here, does density ring a bell? Please consider making intelligent replies.




Seriously, you've got to be kidding me, please let's keep the topic serious man.


P.S. If you want to talk about UFO, you have a whole section just for it, please consider posting it there, thank you.

Well,here's a guy with some credentials that mean more than mine,so check out what is said at 5:34 into it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgxxclNQXjY...feature=related .....also for those who might not know who Mr. Lear is; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKRYnswV8ow...feature=related

Very true, Venus has really no cooldown time, which is for example night on Earth, but on Venus most of the energy coming from the sun is trapped in the atmosphere due to the high presence of carbon dioxide.

the image is captured from the site, who said the planet was blue "the above false-color picture of Venus was taken last July 23rd in ultraviolet light"

sheesh kiddies