Venus rising: probe orbits mystery twin
Richard Macey
Sydney Morning Herald
_________________
Imagine a world where every second day is your birthday.Such a place exists. Before the space age, many scientists regarded Venus, almost identical in size to Earth, as our world's identical twin.
Beneath its dense Earth-like clouds, they speculated, could be oceans and continents crawling with life.They were wrong. "Venus is as close to hell as we can imagine," said Nick Lomb, the curator at the Powerhouse Museum's Sydney Observatory.
"You cannot imagine a worse place to live."Discovering why Earth's nearest planetary neighbour grew up to become our ugly sister is the task of Venus Express, a $266 million European probe that will swing into orbit around Venus today.Launched by a Russian rocket in November, it is Europe's first mission to Venus. One mystery it will investigate is Venus's bizarre solar day."It spins backwards," Dr Lomb said.
"On Venus the sun rises in the west and sets in the east."Venus rotates so slowly that 117 Earth days pass between sunrises. Taking 225 Earth days to orbit the sun, a Venusian calendar would have only two days."With the planet spinning backwards, you could argue that you are actually getting younger," Dr Lomb said.
Apr 10, 2006
Richard Macey
Sydney Morning Herald
_________________
Imagine a world where every second day is your birthday.Such a place exists. Before the space age, many scientists regarded Venus, almost identical in size to Earth, as our world's identical twin.
Beneath its dense Earth-like clouds, they speculated, could be oceans and continents crawling with life.They were wrong. "Venus is as close to hell as we can imagine," said Nick Lomb, the curator at the Powerhouse Museum's Sydney Observatory.
"You cannot imagine a worse place to live."Discovering why Earth's nearest planetary neighbour grew up to become our ugly sister is the task of Venus Express, a $266 million European probe that will swing into orbit around Venus today.Launched by a Russian rocket in November, it is Europe's first mission to Venus. One mystery it will investigate is Venus's bizarre solar day."It spins backwards," Dr Lomb said.
"On Venus the sun rises in the west and sets in the east."Venus rotates so slowly that 117 Earth days pass between sunrises. Taking 225 Earth days to orbit the sun, a Venusian calendar would have only two days."With the planet spinning backwards, you could argue that you are actually getting younger," Dr Lomb said.
Apr 10, 2006
