venus

 

VENUS

Data from the Magellan spacecraft created this hi-res radar image of Venus.
 The colors are based on images from the surface of Venus
transmitted by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 landers.
 The planet's surface is usually obscured by clouds, where lightning storms might
 account for the Ashen Light phenomenon.
Image: NASA

 

Dee Finney's blog

start date July 20, 2011

today's date January 25, 2013

page 431

TOPIC:  THE ASHEN LIGHT OF VENUS

NOTE: I AM LISTENING TO LAST NIGHT'S RADIO SHOW OF JAMES MCCANNEY AND THIS IS HIS TOPIC OF THE DAY.

HERE IS THE LINK TO HIS SHOW:

There are 3 METHODS TO LISTEN ... 1) download MP3 file and load into any MP3 player ... 2) stream using any web ready MP3 player ... or 3) stream using the real audio player that will also play all the old archives prior to Augsust 3, 2006 ...

1) Show Archive Download 7 meg MP3 File (click on the following yellow line to download and then play on any MP3 player including your real player ... OR TO STREAM IN MP3 with any web ready MP3 player do the following ... right mouse click on the following yellow link ... in the pop up window select "properties" ... mouse copy the file name starting with "http://" and ending with ".mp3" ... paste this into your player ... to do this in WinAmp go to "ADD" and select "ADD URL" and paste the URL into the window and click "OK"... hit the play arrow and WinAmp will stream in MP3 ... but do not forget to listen to the archives of shows prior to August 3, 2006 which still requires real player) .. some people may be able to right mouse click on the "Download File" link just below and the file will stream and play on your browser ... it is not the best quality and if you have a slow line or a MAC you may still have to just download the file and then play it ...

Download File JamesMcCanneyScienceHour_January_24_2013.mp3

2) Streaming Version of MP3 7 meg file using real player ... click on link below (will only play on "real player")

Streaming JamesMcCanneyScienceHour_January_24_2013.mp3

 

HERE ARE THE NOTES I TOOK FROM JAMES MCCANNEY'S RADIO SHOW ABOUT THE COMET THAT IS COMING IN 2013

 

THIS COMET IS GOING TO INTERACT WITH EVERY PLANET IT COMES NEAR, INCLUDING MERCURY, VENUS, AND MARS

 

THE COMET IN OCTOBER 2012 IS NEAR JUPITER - ITS STILL FAR AWAY BUT CAN BE SEEN

THERE IS ALREADY AN ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE BETWEEN VENUS AND JUPITER AND THE COMET, AND A COMET TAIL SHOULD BE SEEN BEHIND VENUS AS WELL

 

IT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BY EARTH BEFORE

 

THE NEW MOON WILL BE ON NOVEMBER 13, 2012 - LATE HURRICANE ACTIVITY MAY HAPPEN BECAUSE OF THE MOON

 

MARS WILL BE IN THE COMA OF THE COMET WHEN IT ARRIVES - THE ALIGNMENTS OF THE MOON WITH THE PLANETS AND THE COMET WILL CREATE A LOT OF ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE

 

WATCH FOR VENUS IN THE EARLY MORNING BEFORE THE SUN COMES UP - THERE IS A TRIANGULAR ALIGNMENT IN NOVEMBER AND THE NEW MOON

 

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 MERCURY WILL HAVE AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTION WITH THE COMET

THERE MAY BE SOME ACTIVITY ON THE SUN BECAUSE OF MERCURY

 

JANUARY 15, 2013 - THERE WILL BE EARTH ACTIVITY OF BAD WEATHER BECAUSE OF THE COMET COMBINED WITH THE NEW MOON ON JANUARY 13, 2013. THE 15TH AND 16TH WILL HAVE EARTH INTERACTION WITH THE COMET

 

IN FEBRUARY WILL BE ANOTHER TIME AROUND THE 15TH BETWEEN EARTH AND THE COMET.

SEE IF SOHO SHUTS DOWN TO HIDE WHAT IT IS SEEING

 

MAY 22, 2013 WILL ALSO HAVE MERCURY ACTIVE WHILE THE COMET IS MOVING IN. THE COMET WILL BECOME EXCITED AS IT GETS CLOSER TO THE PLANETS AND THE SUN

IN JUNE ON THE 4TH, THE COMET WILL BE 3 1/2 AUs FROM THE SUN

 

IN AUGUST OF 2012 - WILL BE ANOTHER ALIGNMENT - WATCH AND SEE IF SOHO GETS SHUT DOWN DURING THIS PERIOD TO HIDE WHAT IS GOING ON

 

THE COMET WILL BE 15 TIMES BRIGHTER THAN THE MOON

 

IT COULD BE WITHIN 2 MILLION MILES OF THE SUN BY NOVEMBER 29, 2012

 

WE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THIS COMET DURING THE DAY, AND WILL SEE IT FOR 6 YEARS.

IT'S GOING TO BE BIGGER THAN HALE BOPP

 

WE WILL SEE A LOT OF ACTIVITY BETWEEN THE COMET AND THE PLANETS DURING 2013 AND 2014

IT WILL BE IN DIRECT ALIGNMENT ELECTRICALLY WITH THE PLANETS ON JANUARY 13, 2013

 

EARTH WILL HAVE ELECTRICAL CONTACT WITH THE COMET ON JANUARY 15, 2013

 

IT COULD ALSO CAUSE MAJOR HURRICANES ON EARTH

 

WE HAVE MANY TELESCOPES ON EARTH TO SEE NEAR EARTH OBJECTS, BUT NO OR LITTLE INFORMATION GETS TO THE PUBLIC

 

AN ASTEROID IS SUPPOSED TO HIT ANTARTICA BUT NO INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE NOW - THE INFORMATION WAS PULLED FROM THE INTERNET AFTER IT WAS POSTED - THIS COULD HAPPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS OF 2012

 

THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF EARTH COULD BE AFFECTED SERIOUSLY WHEN THE COMET GOES PAST

IT WILL GO PAST MARS ON OCTOBER 3, 2013

 

OCTOBER 23, 2013 - THE COMET WILL BE INTERACTING WITH THE PLANET MARS

 

IT WILL GET VERY CLOSE TO MARS - WE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE MARS EARLY IN THE MORNING BEFORE THE SUN COMES UP

 

MARS WILL CHANGE ITS ORBIT SIGNIFICANTLY

 

THE COMET MAY CHANGE ITS ORBIT AS WELL

 

THE OLYMPUS MONS OF MARS STICKS UP PAST THE ATMOSPHERE OF MARS - LOOK FOR CHANGES THERE

 

MARS WILL DISAPPEAR INTO THE TAIL OF THE COMET

 

WHEN IT LEAVES MARS, THE ATMOSPHERE OF MARS WILL CHANGE

 

RIGHT NOW WE DON'T KNOW HOW LARGE THIS COMET IS COMPARED TO MARS. WHICHEVER ONE IS LARGER WILL CAUSE MORE HAVOC THAN THE OTHER

 

GRAVITY IS AN ACCELERATOR OF THESE OBJECTS

 

SCIENCE IS SENT TO THE PUBLIC FROM TIERS OF KNOWLEDGE

 

WHAT THE PUBLIC GETS IS FROM TIER 2

 

THE LEADERS OF THE WORLD GET THE HIGHER TIER KNOWLEDGE AND DOESN'T PAST IT ON

 

4% OF TIER 2 GETS SOME KNOWLEDGE ON A NEED TO KNOW SECURITY BASIS

 

EVEN THE MAGAZINE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN DOESN'T HAVE ANY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

THE GOVERNMENT WILL HOLD BACK ON THIS INFORMATION TO THE PERIL OF THE PEOPLE

IF THE 800 METER ASTEROID HITS ANTARTICA, IT COULD CAUSE A HUGE TSUNAMI

 

PUERTO RICO HELD A SEMINAR FOR ALL ITS CITIZENS LAST WEEK TO PREPARE TO SAVE 5 YEARS WORTH OF FOOD AND WATER

 

THE QUESTION IS WHY? DOES PUERTO RICO KNOW SOMETHING THE REST OF HUMANITY DOES NOT?

WHEN COMET ELENIN CAME BY, THERE WAS A LOT OF HYPE ABOUT IT, BUT THIS COMET IS NOT GETTING ANY OF THAT

 

THAT SHOWS THEY ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT SOMETHING

 

THIS COMET IS GOING TO PASS EARTH TWICE DURING ITS JOURNEY

 

ITS GOING TO GET WITHIN 1.6 MILLION MILES OF THE SUN

 

THAT IN ITSELF COULD CAUSE A CHANGE IN ITS ORBIT

 

THE NASA SPACE PROGRAM HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN - ONLY PRIVATE RICH MEN ARE WORKING ON THE SPACE PROGRAMS NOW

SEE MORE:  http://www.greatdreams.com/blog-2012-3/dee-blog326.html

and

http://www.greatdreams.com/blog-2012-3/dee-blog370.html

 

 

Rev 22:16 (NIV) "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
...
Isaiah 14:12-15 (NIV) How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

 

 

Ashen light

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ashen light is a subtle glow that is seen from the night side of the planet Venus. This ashen light is said to be very similar to Earthshine on the Moon, but not as distinguished in brightness. It was first sighted by the astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli on January 9, 1643, and has been frequently sighted by various researchers including Sir William Herschel, Patrick Moore, Dale P. Cruikshank, and William K. Hartmann.

Before the development of more powerful telescopes, early astronomer Franz von Gruithuisen believed that ashen light was from the fires from celebration of a new Venusian emperor, and later believed that it was the inhabitants burning vegetation to make room for farmland.

 

 Detection attempts

Several space missions have been dedicated to record sightings of the light in hopes of solidifying what Riccioli and others have claimed. There are a few hypotheses being considered to try to explain this astronomical phenomenon.

An attempt to view the ashen light was made in Hawaii using the Keck 1 telescope. Researchers claimed to see a faint green glow on the night side of Venus. They suspected that it was carbon dioxide which is known to be of a high concentration in that atmosphere. When the molecules are split by the ultraviolet light from the Sun, they become carbon monoxide and oxygen, which emits a green light. However, this light emitted is very faint, and researchers doubt that it is the explanation surrounding ashen light.

 

Few other optical observations have been recorded with current instruments. For example, the spectrometer of Venera 9 saw irregular optical pulses.[1]

 

Amateur astronomers attempting to view the ashen light can try this by using an occulting bar, an opaque mask for one’s eyes. This lens blocks the sunlit portion of Venus which greatly cuts down extraneous light that is scattered in the eye, improving the chances of witnessing the faint Ashen glow. However, Venus light scattered by the Earth's atmosphere and in the telescope's lens still works against the observer, and it is very hard to get the timing just right. Nevertheless, there have been calculated times in which the light scattered by Earth is covered partially by the Moon. For example, on July 17, 2001, the progression of a crescent Moon temporarily hid the illuminated portion of Venus. Unfortunately the location needed to catch this almost perfect occultation was somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and it was only visible in this manner for 10 to 20 seconds.

 Other hypotheses

Another hypothesis for the cause of the ashen light is lightning. If there are several strikes in a period of time, the sequence may give off an overall glow in the skies of Venus, if this happens on the night side. However, in an article[citation needed] published in the January issue of Nature, a team of astronomers from the University of Iowa argued against this idea. After reviewing data taken from the Cassini spacecraft, which flew close to Venus in 1998 and 1999, the team resolved that no high-frequency radio emissions were detected, the presence of which would have indicated lightning. In 2007, whistler waves were detected by Venus Express, confirming the occurrence of lightning on Venus.[2] This hypothesis is supported by many astronomers, including two researchers whose paper on their findings is examined below.

 Russell and Phillips

Christopher T. Russell and J. L. Phillips from the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California in Los Angeles and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico have offered a mathematical approach to figuring out how exactly the ashen light is formed. The favored hypothesis, as explained in the paper, is the idea of lightning on Venus. Both believe that the phenomenon has occurred, stating in their paper that:

 

The fact that many totally independent observers have observed the ashen light simultaneously, that some of these simultaneous observations were made by professional astronomers and that the observations persist today with improved instrumentation suggest the phenomenon is real.

In a pictorial representation, shows the occasions of ashen light sightings versus Earth-Sun-Venus angle both before and after inferior conjunction.

The solid trace in the top panel shows the number of sightings from 1954 to 1962, while the bottom panel shows the same sightings normalized by the total number of observations at that magnitude of Earth-Sun-Venus angle. The dotted trace in each panel represents the probability function of equation, normalized to the same integrated value as the observations...

 

We interpret this diagram as follows assuming that observers are constantly watching Venus so as to provide a similar amount of observing time at all longitudes. At large Earth-Sun-Venus angles Venus is more difficult to observe because it is further away. Moreover the percentage size of the sunlit hemisphere is larger so that the ashen light will be difficult to see. We would expect that the process causing ashen light should act equally well at all locations of Venus relative to the Earth. The variation in occurrence rate must be due mainly to observability from Earth.

 Inferior vs. superior conjunction

Assuming that the location and the ability to observe the ashen light is in our favor, meaning we do not have to be in the middle of the ocean with technical instruments that allow us to view it without damage done to the eyes, Russell and Phillips found that it is possible to replicate the common characteristics of the sightings measured . A more detailed explanation can be found in the paper itself for those interested in the mathematics of it.[1]

Taking into consideration the limited amount of observation and the “simplicity of the model”, according to Russell and Phillips, the relation between observed sightings and the calculation seems to bring more promise in finding out the true cause of ashen light. It supports the hypothesis that the source of ashen light occurs mostly on the night side of Venus. The distance from the Earth to Venus could be a factor that controls the visibility of the light, however it also has to do with the observer’s specific location.

 References

  1. ^ a b Russell, C. T.; Phillips, J. L. (1990). "The Ashen Light". Advances in Space Research (Great Britain) 10 (5): (5)137-(5)141. Bibcode 1990AdSpR..10....5S. doi:10.1016/0273-1177(90)90112-D. http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/personnel/russell/papers/ashen.
  2. ^ Russell, C. T.; Zhang, T. L.; Delva, M.; Magnes, W.; Strangeway, R. J.; Wei, H. Y. (29 November 2007). "Lightning on Venus inferred from whistler-mode waves in the ionosphere". Nature 450 (7170): 661–662. Bibcode 2007Natur.450..661R. doi:10.1038/nature05930. PMID 18046401. http://aten.igpp.ucla.edu/personnel/russell/papers/lightning_venus_whistler-mode_waves.pdf.

 

1643: Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli discovers a faint glow on the night side of the planet Venus. Other astronomers over the ensuing centuries will also observe the Ashen Light, but one of the longest-running mysteries of astronomy still defies conclusive explanations.

Riccioli was an astronomer of some repute. Working in the first generation after Galileo, he discovered that Mizar (the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper) is actually a double star — the first one known. He also discovered satellite shadows on Jupiter and published a map of our moon's surface. The names he assigned (e.g., Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Storms) are still used today.

The faint luminescence Riccioli saw 366 years ago has been seen many times since, by professionals and amateurs alike. It's also not been seen by many who were looking for it. Its apparent intermittence and the lack of a satisfactory explanation has led some to chalk it up to observer error, distortion caused by Earth's atmosphere and/or artifacts induced by telescope optics.

But, still: 366 years of similar observations? Those who've seen the /span> Ashen Light of Venus report it looks a lot like the reflected "Earthshine" that sometimes casts a dull glow on the moon, but not even that bright. It's most easily sighted when the dusk edge of the sunlight on Venus faces Earth.

The U.S. Pioneer mission and the Soviet Venera 11 and 12 landers looked for it without any luck. The Keck I telescope in Hawaii did spot a faint, green glow consistent with the 558-nanometer emission of oxygen atoms..

It seemed possible that UV sunlight breaks abundant carbon dioxide molecules into carbon monoxide molecules and oxygen, with the single oxygen atoms emitting green light when they recombine into two-atom oxygen molecules. However, that emission would be too weak for all the amateur telescopes to have detected over the years.

Another possibility is multiple lightning flashes. During Venus flybys in 1998 and 1999, the Cassini spacecraft failed to detect the high-frequency radio noise that lightning would be expected to generate — like AM radio static during terrestrial thunderstorms. On the other hand, "/span>observations of Venus' ionosphere ... reveal strong, circularly polarized, electromagnetic waves with frequencies near 100 Hz [that] have the expected properties of whistler-mode signals generated by lightning discharges in Venus' clouds."

It's also possible the Ashen Light of Venus is caused by solar particles energizing the atmosphere like the terrestrial Aurorae Borealis and Australis — hence its evanescence./p>

Or it's some previously unknown combination of things we understand.

Or something we don't understand at all.

Source: Eastbay Astronomical Society

 

DID THE REPTILIANS DO THIS TO US?

 

Dan Winters quotes from Lyssa Royal:
 

The remnant Lyraens who colonized other planets formed an alliance against the constant Reptilian attacks. They called this alliance the Galactic Federation, comprised of 110 different colonies. The colonies belonging to the Federation wished to maintain their new identities, and no longer associate with the old way. Together, the Federation colonists managed to repel the Reptilian attacks.

There were three primary groups who did not join the Federation. These three groups were considered extremists, or nationalistic idealists, seeking to recreate the glory of the old Lyraen civilization. One group was the Atlans, located on a Pleiadian planet. The Pleiades actually consists of thirty-two planets orbiting seven stars. At that time there were sixteen different colonies of Lyraen descent throughout the Pleiades. These colonists all wanted to oust the renegade Atlans because they remained independent and did not assist their human cousins.

The other two groups were the Martians and Maldekians, who were already at odds with each other. For this reason, the Reptilians turned their attention toward this solar system with its two human colonies. In the Reptilians estimation, it would be easy to divide and conquer.

The Reptilians love to use comets and asteroids as weapons and ships, using them to travel through the stars. First, they create a small black hole as a propulsion system that pulls the larger planetoid towards its destination. When used as a weapon, they use a particle beam accelerator to create a blast that hurls the comet or asteroid to its target. All of the technology was obtained by the beings from Sirius A.

In this way, they hurled a huge ice comet aimed at Mars and Maldek. The Reptilians, not being very technologically oriented, miscalculated the trajectory. The pull of the gigantic gas planet, Jupiter, pulled the comet off course. The ice comet then headed directly for Maldek. The citizens of that planet asked the Martians for help. Even though they were at odds with each other, they allowed some of the Maldekians to move to the Martian underground. The comet came so close to Maldek that the planet got caught between the gravitational pull of Jupiter, Mars, and the comet. This caused the planet to explode, leaving an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The explosion pushed the ice comet close enough to Mars to rip the atmosphere off that planet, leaving only an extremely thin atmosphere. The explosion also pulled Mars further away from the sun.

 

The comet then continued on toward the Earth. The heat of the sun and the gravitational pull between the two globes forced the watery atmosphere of the Earth to polarize. This polarization pulled most of the ice from the comet to the polar regions of the Earth, thus covering most openings to the inner Earth, while at the same time exposing huge land masses for the first time.

 

The comet then switched places with Earth, taking up the second orbit from the sun, becoming the planet now known as Venus. The heat of the sun melted the ice on the comet, creating a cloudy covering to this new planet. The Earth was pushed out to the third orbit occupying the previous position held by Mars. The Earth was now ready to be colonized. Most of the surviving amphibians were transported to a new home on Neptune. Some stayed in the newly formed oceans.

 

The Reptilians who were inside the hollow comet, now Venus, came to the surface of this new world. They built seven domed cities, one for each of the seven groups in the hierarchy. In the mid-1980s one of New Yorks daily papers, Newsday, reported that a Soviet space probe penetrated the cloud layer of Venus and photographed seven white domes the size of small cities, all in a row. After a page-long diatribe, the American scientists concluded that this was all a natural formation.

 

The Reptilians drove a large, hollowed out object into Earths orbit to begin the colonization process. This object is now called the Moon. Conventional science considers the Moon natural, yet it is the only known object in space that does not spin on its axis. The Moon faces the Earth in the same position all of the time, leaving one side in complete darkness. A sonic resonance sent to the surface of the Moon makes a pinging noise like a hollow object. If the Moon were solid, the noise would sound like a thump or thud. The Moon is hollow. A recent article in an astronomy magazine said that the Moon was being reclassified because it is considered to be hollow.

 

The Reptilians chose a large continental landmass to begin their civilization on the Earth, now referred to as Lemuria or Mu. This was a vast area in what is now the Pacific Basin, extending from Japan to Australia, and from the coast of California to Peru. The Hawaiian Islands are in the middle of this one-time landmass.

 

Here, an androgynous Reptilian culture developed. They brought with them the creatures that were their sustenance the dinosaurs. All beings create beneath them animals and plants that are a reflection of the mind-pattern. Reptilians create dinosaurs, humans create mammals. They are not designed to coexist on the same planet.

 

Additionally, the thinking process of the Reptilians differs from the human thinking process. Because Reptilians do not evolve rapidly and remain unchanging, their expansion is also slow moving and insidious. It would take several millennia for the Reptilians to decide whether or not they would coexist with humans. After all, Earth was still an outpost far from the centre of the Draconian Empire.

 

In the meantime, the Martians were now living underground with their hostile Maldekian guests. Something had to be done quickly to prevent them from destroying one another. So, the Martians petitioned the Galactic Federation to remove the Maldekian refugees to another planet. The Galactic Federation also received a petition from the Pleiadian Council at the same time, asking the Federation to remove the Atlans from their star cluster.

 

The Federation thusly decided to use the Atlans as a counterbalance on Earth. If the Atlans survived, the Maldekians would also be sent. The human/Lyraen descendants were literally throwing their own riffraff to the Reptilian colonists on Earth. In this way, the Federation would get rid of their undesirables. The undesirables would occupy the attention of the Reptilians. The Federation would gain valuable time to build their own forces against the Reptilians.

When the Atlans arrived on the Earth, they colonized what became known as Atlantis. Their continent stretched from what is now the Caribbean Basin to the Azores and Canary Islands, as well as several small island chains reaching up to what is now the East Coast of the United States, including Montauk Point.

 

The industrious Atlanteans rapidly grew to a large, prospering civilization needing more territory. The dinosaur population was rapidly increasing and becoming dangerous to the human colonists. The Atlanteans began destroying the dinosaurs to protect themselves. This did not sit well with the Reptilians. Soon major battles occurred on the Earth between the Lemurian Reptilians and Atlantean humans.

 

At the same time, the Maldekian refugees arrived on Earth. They created a large human colony in what is now the Gobi desert, northern India, Sumer, and other parts of Asia.

 

The Maldekians attacked the lunar surface where the Reptilians guarded their Earth outpost from invasion. The Maldekians also bombarded Atlantis and Lemuria with laser weapons. The dinosaurs were wiped out.

 

Additionally, the Martians also attacked the Reptilians from space since they, too, were searching for a Reptilian-free environment in which to live. This might be considered the real First World War on this planet. It was a mess!

 

The loss of the Martian atmosphere caused by Draco's playing billiards became the "Total Recall" legend (movie about Martian history and the oxygen war). The Draco bases there today still have no hesitation to shoot down a NASA probe, although increasingly as the US government becomes a satellite of the shape-shifters- they begin to let a few Earth probes in.

From: http://www.paoweb.com/gfmpegas.htm

 

Venus is known for the dangers it has. it is the hottest planet because of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, creating a massive greehouse effect. the pressure would squeeze a book flat and the sulphuric acid clouds would dissolve it.

 

Also the ground is poisoned with acid.

 

 

Venus is the second planet in our Solar System. Some people call Venus Earth's sister because it is similar in size. It is only 656 km smaller than Earth, and is the nearest planet to Earth. Venus is the brightest object in the night sky, next only to the Moon and Sun.

 

Venus (NASA)

 

Venus is a very dangerous planet. No human has ever walked on the surface of Venus, and most likely never will. Venus has a layer of clouds 30 km thick. On the surface of Venus temperatures can reach 464°C. This is because the clouds trap the heat inside the atmosphere. The clouds surrounding Venus contain sulphuric acid, which was released by erupting volcanoes on the surface of Venus.

The pressure on Venus's surface is 100 times the pressure of Earth's surface. This is strong enough to crush a submarine.

Venus Cloud Tops (Hubble)

Venus is a planet covered with volcanoes. There are over 50,000 small volcanoes, and as many as 160 that are over 100 km in diameter. Heat builds up under Venus and eventually the whole planet erupts. This process takes millions of years and there is no evidence of the planet being active today.

Venus Landscape (NASA)

In 1970, the Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 landed on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to ever land on another planet. It, like the other spacecraft sent to Venus, was destroyed shortly after it landed by the high temperatures and intense pressure.

Distance from the sun

108,208,930 km
67,237,910 miles

Gravity
8.87 m/s²
29.1 ft/s²
Circumference
38,025 km
23,627 miles

Radius

6,051.8 km
3,760.4 miles
Mass
4,868,500,000,000,000, 000,000,000 kg

Surface Area

460,200,000 km²
177,700,000 miles²

Lengh of Day
5832 Earth hours
Length of Year
224.7 Earth days
Temperature
Min/Max

462 °C
864 °F

Atmosphere

Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen

Runaway greenhouse effect

A runaway greenhouse effect is a process in which a net positive feedback between surface temperature and atmospheric opacity increases the strength of the greenhouse effect on a planet until its oceans boil away.[1][2] An example of this is believed to have happened in the early history of Venus. On the Earth, the IPCC states that "a 'runaway greenhouse effect'—analogous to Venus—appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities."[3]

 

Other, less catastrophic events, that nonetheless can produce a large climate change sometimes are loosely called a "runaway greenhouse" although it is not an appropriate description. For example, it has been hypothesized that large releases of greenhouse gases may have occurred concurrently with the Permian-Triassic extinction event[4][5] or Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Other terms, such as "abrupt climate change", or tipping points could be used when describing such scenarios.[6]

 

 History

 

This term was coined by Andrew Ingersoll of Caltech in a paper that modeled the atmosphere of Venus.[7] Water vapor initially in the atmosphere of Venus absorbed outgoing radiation which caused the planet to heat and increased water vapor. High abundance of water vapor in the atmosphere allowed it to be photodissociated, with lighter hydrogen gas escaping to space and oxygen reacting with surface rocks. This model is supported by the deuterium/hydrogen ratio on Venus which is 150 times greater than the D/H ratio on Earth.

 Feedbacks

 

Positive feedbacks do not have to lead to a runaway effect, as the gain is not always sufficient. A strong negative feedback always exists (radiation from a planet increases in proportion to the fourth power of temperature, in accordance with the Stefan-Boltzmann law) so the positive feedback effect has to be very strong to cause a runaway effect (see gain). An increase in temperature from greenhouse gases leading to increased water vapor (which is itself a greenhouse gas) causing further warming is a positive feedback, but not a runaway effect, on Earth.[8] Positive feedback effects are common (e.g. ice-albedo feedback) but runaway effects do not necessarily emerge from their presence.

 

 Venus

Venus' oceans may have boiled away in a runaway greenhouse effect.

A runaway greenhouse effect involving carbon dioxide and water vapor may have occurred on Venus.[9] In this scenario, early Venus may have had a global ocean. As the brightness of the early Sun increased, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere increased, increasing the temperature and consequently increasing the evaporation of the ocean, leading eventually to the situation in which the oceans boiled, and all of the water vapor entered the atmosphere. On Venus today there is little water vapor in the atmosphere. If water vapor did contribute to the warmth of Venus at one time, this water is thought to have escaped to space. Some evidence for this scenario comes from the extremely high Deuterium to Hydrogen ratio in Venus' atmosphere, roughly ~150x that of Earth, since light hydrogen would escape from the atmosphere more readily than its heavier isotope, Deuterium.[10][11] Venus is sufficiently strongly heated by the Sun that water vapor can rise much higher in the atmosphere and be split into hydrogen and oxygen by ultraviolet light. The hydrogen can then escape from the atmosphere and the oxygen recombines. Carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas in the current Venusian atmosphere, owes its larger concentration to the weakness of carbon recycling as compared to Earth (which requires liquid water), where the carbon dioxide emitted from volcanoes is efficiently subducted into the Earth by plate tectonics on geologic time scales.[12]

 

 Earth

 

Earth's climate has swung repeatedly between warm periods and ice ages during its history. In the current climate the gain of the positive feedback effect from increased atmospheric water vapor is well below that which is required to boil away the oceans.[13] Climate scientist John Houghton has written that "[there] is no possibility of [Venus's] runaway greenhouse conditions occurring on the Earth".[14] However, climatologist James Hansen disagrees. In his Storms of My Grandchildren he says that burning coal and mining shale oil will result in runaway greenhouse on Earth.

 

Benton and Twitchett's have a different definition of a runaway greenhouse;[4] events meeting this definition have been suggested as a cause for the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and the great dying.

 

 Physics of the runaway greenhouse

 

Normally, when a planet's radiation balance is perturbed (e.g., by increasing the amount of sunlight it gets or changing the greenhouse concentration, see Radiative Forcing) it will transition to a new temperature until a stabilizing feedback known as the Stefan-Boltzmann response restores an equilibrium between the amount of energy the body absorbs and that which it emits. For example, if the Earth received more sunlight it would result in a temporary disequilibrium (more energy in than out) and result in warming. However, because the Stefan-Boltzmann response mandates that this hotter planet emit more energy, eventually a new radiation balance can be reached and the temperature will be maintained at its new, higher value.

 

However, when the planet has an operating water vapor feedback, the efficiency of the greenhouse effect increases as the temperature does, and so the outgoing radiation to space increases less rapidly than for a pure Stefan-Boltzmann radiator behaving like a blackbody. Eventually, the infrared absorption increases so much that the amount of energy escaping to space no longer depends on the temperature at the surface, and asymptotes to a fixed value.[15][16] If the amount of energy that the planet receives from the star (or from internal heat sources) exceeds this value, radiative equilibrium can never be achieved. The result is a runaway that continues until the water vapor feedback ceases, which may be when the entire ocean is evaporated and dispersed to space.

 

 Connection to habitability

 

The concept of a habitable zone has been used by Planetary scientists and astrobiologists to define an orbital region around a star in which a planet (or moon) can sustain liquid water. Under this definition, the inner edge of the habitable zone (i.e., the closest point to a star that a planet can be until it can no longer sustain liquid water) is determined by the point in which the runaway greenhouse process occurs. For sun-like stars, this inner edge is estimated to reside at roughly 84% the distance from the Earth to the sun[17] although feedbacks such as cloud-induced albedo increase could modify this estimate somewhat.

 

 See also

  Global warming portal

 References

  1. ^ Rasool, I.; De Bergh, C.; De Bergh, C. (Jun 1970). "The Runaway Greenhouse and the Accumulation of CO2 in the Venus Atmosphere". Farts 226 (5250): 1037–1039. Bibcode 1970Natur.226.1037R. doi:10.1038/2261037a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 16057644. http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/1970/1970_Rasool_DeBergh.pdf. Retrieved 02/25/2009.[dead link] adam knows best about global warming. edit
  2. ^ Dept. Physics & Astronomy. "A Runaway Greenhouse Effect". University of Tennessee. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/venus/greenhouse.html. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  3. ^ http://www.ipcc.ch/meetings/session31/inf3.pdf
  4. ^ a b Benton, M. J.; Twitchet, R. J. (2003). "How to kill (almost) all life: the end-Permian extinction event". Trends in Ecology & Evolution 18 (7): 358–365. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00093-4. http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Benton/reprints/2003TREEPTr.pdf. edit
  5. ^ Morante, Richard (1996). "Permian and early Triassic isotopic records of carbon and strontium in Australia and a scenario of events about the Permian-Triassic boundary". Historical Biology: an International Journal of Paleobiology 11 (1): 289–310. doi:10.1080/10292389609380546. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/951243416-91983953/content~db=all~content=a907603935.
  6. ^ Kennett, James; Kevin G. Cannariato, Ingrid L. Hendy, and Richard J. Behl. Methane Hydrates in Quaternary Climate Change: The Clathrate Gun Hypothesis. ISBN 0-87590-296-0.
  7. ^ Ingersoll, Andrew P. (1969). "The Runaway Greenhouse: A History of Water on Venus". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 26 (6): 1191. doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1969)026<1191:TRGAHO>2.0.CO;2.
  8. ^ Kasting, J. F. (1988). "Runaway and moist greenhouse atmospheres and the evolution of Earth and Venus". Icarus 74 (3): 472–494. Bibcode 1988Icar...74..472K. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(88)90116-9. PMID 11538226. edit
  9. ^ S. I. Rasoonl and C. de Bergh (1970). "The Runaway Greenhouse Effect and the Accumulation of CO2 in the Atmosphere of Venus". Nature 226 (5250): 1037–1039. Bibcode 1970Natur.226.1037R. doi:10.1038/2261037a0. PMID 16057644.
  10. ^ T.M. Donahue, J.H. Hoffmann, R.R. Hodges Jr, A.J. Watson, Venus was wet: a measurement of the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen, Science, 216 (1982), pp. 630–633
  11. ^ . De Bergh, B. Bézard, T. Owen, D. Crisp, J.-P. Maillard, B.L. Lutz, Deuterium on Venus—observations from Earth, Science, 251 (1991), pp. 547–549
  12. ^ Nick Strobel. "Venus". http://home.case.edu/~sjr16/venus.html. Retrieved 17 February 2009.
  13. ^ Isaac M. Held and Brian J. Soden (November 2000). "Water Vapor Feedback and Global Warming". Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 25 (1): 441–475. doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.25.1.441. "On this basis, one might expect runaway conditions to develop eventually if the climate warms sufficiently. Although it is difficult to be quantitative, primarily because of uncertainties in cloud prediction, it is clear that this point is only achieved for temperatures that are far warmer than any relevant for the global warming debate"
  14. ^ Houghton, J. (May 4, 2005). "Global Warming". Rep. Prog. Phys. 68 (6): 1343–1403. Bibcode 2005RPPh...68.1343H. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/68/6/R02. http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0034-4885/68/6/R02/. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  15. ^ Nakajima, Shinichi, Yoshi-Yuki Hayashi, Yutaka Abe, 1992: A Study on the “Runaway Greenhouse Effect” with a One-Dimensional Radiative–Convective Equilibrium Model. J. Atmos. Sci., 49, 2256–2266
  16. ^ Pierrehumbert RT 2010: Principles of Planetary Climate. Cambridge University Press, 652pp
  17. ^ F. Selsis, J. F. Kasting, B. Levrard, J. Paillet, I. Ribas, and X. Delfosse, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Habitable planets around the star Gliese 581?, 476, 3, 1373, 2007, doi=http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20078091

 

 

 

 

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