Venus Science |
Venus Science |
Feb 10 2006, 10:18 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
Sunspot, NM (Feb. 7, 2006) -- The planet Venus is best known for the thick layers of clouds that veil its surface from view by telescopes on Earth. But the veil has holes, and a New Mexico State University scientist plans on using a solar telescope to peer through them to study the weather on Venus.
"Observations of Venus from a nighttime telescope at a single location are very difficult because Venus is so close to the Sun in the sky," said Dr. Nancy Chanover, a planetary scientist at NMSU in Las Cruces, NM. "You can observe it for about two hours at most." Then the Sun rises and blinds the telescope (or Venus sets, depending on the time of year). http://www.nso.edu/press/venus06/ -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
|
|
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Feb 12 2006, 08:52 AM
Post
#2
|
Guests |
I remember that -- it was indeed a letter in "Science", although I don't remember the date. (I think you can find it in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature.) There was a longer article on the subject in "Spaceflight" around 1990, but I haven't heard anything more on the subject since then. You'd think the official answer would be available somewhere by now.
|
|
|
Feb 13 2006, 06:43 AM
Post
#3
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
Andrew Lepage wrote about Zond 2 in the April, 1991 issue of the EJASA.
His conclusion was that the probe did have a landing capsule, but that the Soviets assumed Mars had a thicker atmosphere than it did, so that even if Zond 2 did release its lander, the craft would have likely crashed on the Martian surface. The issue and article can be found here: ftp://ftp.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/e...91/jasa9104.txt Regarding Mariner 5, Jane's Solar System Log by Andrew Wilson (1987) stated that the flyby Venus probe was considered for carrying a small landing capsule, but the idea was rejected. Any idea what this Mariner 5 Venus lander would have looked like? What instruments it could have carried? Could they have developed it in time? Would it have been more or less advanced than the early Venera landers of 1966-1972? Any drawings of it available? Did they expect it to survive to the surface, or just hope to get atmospheric readings before being crushed? A Summary Review of the Scientific Findings of the Mariner 2 Venus Mission http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1964016602.pdf Mariner-Venus 1967 http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1972013159.pdf -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
|
|
Feb 13 2006, 05:38 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 259 Joined: 23-January 05 From: Seattle, WA Member No.: 156 |
Andrew Lepage wrote about Zond 2 in the April, 1991 issue of the EJASA. His conclusion was that the probe did have a landing capsule, but that the Soviets assumed Mars had a thicker atmosphere than it did, so that even if Zond 2 did release its lander, the craft would have likely crashed on the Martian surface. The issue and article can be found here: ftp://ftp.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/e...91/jasa9104.txt <snip> Oh dear - this is off-topic for this thread, but I can't help but note that the EJASA article makes an interesting assertion I've never heard before: QUOTE Because of problems with the radio relay on the MARS 3 main bus, which had just slipped into orbit around Mars, the lander's signal was lost after only twenty seconds and was never heard from again.
|
|
|
Feb 13 2006, 06:50 PM
Post
#5
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
Oh dear - this is off-topic for this thread, but I can't help but note that the EJASA article makes an interesting assertion I've never heard before: Wrong planet, same spacecraft family, so not *too* off-topic - and an interesting article. The assertion that it was an orbiter failure that did in Mars 3 is entirely fresh so far as I can see... Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 21st June 2024 - 02:22 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |