Venus Flashcards
What makes up the vast majority of Venus’s thick atmosphere
Carbon Dioxide (>96%)
With opaque sulfuric acid clouds above
Venus doesn’t have moon, but what does it have?
An asteriod 2002VE68 which maintains a quasi-orbital relationship with it
In a frame of reference rotating with Venus, it appears to travel around it during one Venusian year but it actually orbits the Sun, not Venus.
2002 VE68 was the first quasi-satellite to be discovered
This video shows how a quasi satelite works
Why doesn’t Venus have a significant magnetic field
It doesn’t rotate fast enough to create the dynamo action in its core
It does have a small field caused by interaction between the ionosphere and the solar wind (induced magnetosphere)
What was the last really big event to occur on Venus
From the state of craters, the mega event occurred between 300-600m years ago, it was so significant it resurfaced the planet and left (if they’re wasn’t before) a single tectonic plate.
Whereas Earth’s crust is in continuous motion, Venus is thought to be unable to sustain such a process. Without plate tectonics to dissipate heat from its mantle, Venus instead undergoes a cyclical process in which mantle temperatures rise until they reach a critical level that weakens the crust. - eventually, subduction occurs an ernormous scale and recycles the crust
What did the Greeks call Venus
At first they thought it was two planets, a morning one and evening one called
Phosphorus and Hesperus respectively , later deciding it was a single planet (as the Babylonians had said)
What was special about Venera 3
The Soviet Venera 3 probe crash-landed on Venus on 1 March 1966.
It was the first man-made object to enter the atmosphere and strike the surface of another planet.
Its communication system failed before it was able to return any planetary data.
What are the two continents on Venus
What is the ‘third’ continent. Or at least it is sometimes called as such.
Ishtar Terra (north - almost at pole)
Aphrodite Terra (the larger of the two, about the size of South America)
both named after Goddesses of Love
Lada Terra (far south - almost at pole)
What is the name for a phase of illumination when something is more than half but not fully illuminated
Gibbous, from the middle English for bulging, and before that Latin gibbus meaning hump
The opposite is a crescent
What is the axial tilt of Venus
2.6 degrees (pretty small)
Well actually its 177.4, but you can see this amounts to the same thing
What is the famous largest mountain on Venus
Maxwell Montes (similar in size to Mona Kea)
How often do Transits of Venus occur
When do Cook go to observe one in Tahiti
When was the last one
For qudos, who first observed it
Every 243 years
1768
June 2004
Avicenna in 1032 (impressive)
What significant event on Venus was observed in March 2014
In March 2014, the first direct evidence for ongoing volcanism was located, in the form of infrared “flashes” over the rift zone Ganiki Chasma, near the shield volcano Maat Mons. These flashes, ranging from 40 to 320 °C above the ambient, are believed to be either hot gases or lava released from volcanic eruptions
What is the orbital period of Venus
224.7 days
What is the diameter of Venus in km
12,104km
What is the mass of Venus, relative to earth
0.82 Me
How far is Venus from the Sun in AU, and km
- 72AU
108.92 m km
What was the first mission to send back pictures from the surface of Venus
Venera 9 (1975)
although the famous images are from Venera 13 (which were the first colour pictures) (1982)
What was the first space mission to Venus (the first to any planet)
But what was the first successful mission
The Soviet Venera mission, launched 12 Feb 1961
It may have close by, but contact was lost early in the mission
The first successful mission was Mariner 2, which made it there in 1962
What is the rotation period of Venus
Whats the (two) catches
243 days (sidereal days)
a solar day is 116.8 earth days
In addition, the atmosphere rotates 60x faster than Venus itself
What is the average surface temperature of Venus
462C
enought to melt lead
What is the surface atmospheric pressure on Venus , c.f. earth
The same as at a depth of 1km under the sea
i.e. 92x earth’s surface pressure
What is the name of the ESA spaceship that orbited Venus for nearly ten years
When did arrive, and when was it deorbited
Venus Express (an ESA mission)
Launched in 2005, it arrived in 2006.
The mission was declared over in Dec 2014
The last signal was received in mid-Jan 2015
How many Volcanoes have been identified on Venus
>1600, the most of any planet in the Solar System
Venus does not have plates so Volcanoes appear above hotspots
What is the name of the Japanese spacecraft that was placed into Venus orbit in 2015 five years after an initial failed attempt
What is its mission
Akatsuki “Dawn” aka Venus Climate Orbiter
Its mission is to study the atmosphere of Venus
In what continent will you find
Maxwell Montes
Maat Mons
Maxwell - Ishtar
Maat - Aphrodite
Why are there no small craters (<3km) on Venus
The thick atmosphere slows material down and burns it up too much.
Why doesn’t Venus’ sulfuric acid rain erode the surface
It doesn’t reach the ground, because it is so hot it evaporates first like virga on earth.
What is the fourth high zone on Venus, that could make a case for being a continent
What is the 4,000 km long chasma that goes through this area
Beta Regio
Devana Chasma
The Devana Chasma formed along the Beta Regio and Phoebe Regio volcanic rises, these different volcanic highlands formed due different mantle plumes.
