Thursday, November 29, 2007

Our hellish sister planet, Venus

New Findings Underscore an Earth-Venus Kinship

Recent finding of the Venus Express spacecraft include wide temperature swings, signs of lightning, and evidence the planet may have had oceans the size of earth's:

“...They’re really twins which are just separated at birth,” said Dmitri Titov, the mission’s science coordinator. “The key question is why those twins are so different...”

In the NE USA, Venus is high and bright in the morning sky and easy to spot before sunrise. Understanding Venus is relevant for us here on earth, as the article points out:

...Understanding the dynamics and history of Venus’s turbulent atmosphere could lead to a better understanding of the role that heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide play in shaping the climate of planets including Earth...

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