{"id":21500,"date":"2021-07-28T11:58:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T11:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=94777"},"modified":"2021-07-27T12:10:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T12:10:32","slug":"pictures-of-venus","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/pictures-of-venus\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictures of Venus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Lee Dyson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 27 July 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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In many ways, Venus and Earth are very similar. They are almost identical in size and mass and are relatively close in their distance from the Sun.<\/p>\n

But in reality, the worlds could not be more different.<\/p>\n

Venus is shrouded from view by thick clouds of sulphuric acid, which float in an atmosphere so dense the surface pressure is 92 times what it is on Earth: about the same as 1km underwater.<\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/div>
A view of Venus captured by JAXA\u2019s Akatsuki orbiter. \u00a9 PLANET-C Project Team<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Temperatures on Venus are hot enough to melt lead as the planet is in the grip of a runaway greenhouse effect.<\/p>\n

Venus was once highly volcanic, and this pumped out vast amounts of carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

On Earth, plate tectonics recycle the carbon from eruptions back into the rock, but Venus doesn\u2019t have any tectonics.<\/p>\n

Instead, carbon dioxide levels rose until it made up 95% of the atmosphere. This acts like an insulating blanket, trapping the Sun\u2019s heat.<\/p>\n

As the temperature rose, what water there was on Venus evaporated, forming a thick layer of swirling cloud that trapped even more heat, contributing to the creation of the planet\u2019s inhospitable conditions.<\/p>\n

Recently, astronomers have managed to detect signs of phosphine on Venus<\/a>, which could be evidence of microbial life in the planet\u2019s clouds.<\/p>\n

Venus facts<\/strong><\/h1>\n