Scientists discovered a Venus-like world that might not be a hellhole (2024)

FAQs

What have scientists discovered about Venus? ›

Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction from most planets. Venus is similar in structure and size to Earth, and is sometimes called Earth's evil twin. Its thick atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.

Most astronomers feel that it would be impossible for life to exist on Venus. Today, Venus is a very hostile place. It is a very dry planet with no evidence of water, its surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead, and its atmosphere is so thick that the air pressure on its surface is over 90 times that on Earth.

Past habitability potential

Scientists have speculated that if liquid water existed on its surface before the runaway greenhouse effect heated the planet, microbial life may have formed on Venus, but it may no longer exist.

Exploring the surface of Venus is difficult because of the intense heat and crushing air pressure. The longest any spacecraft has survived on the surface is a little over two hours – a record set by the Soviet Union's Venera 13 probe in 1981.

New research has debunked a 2020 study that claimed to have found the chemical phosphine, a potential biomarker for extraterrestrial life, in Venus' atmosphere.

In some ways it is more an opposite of Earth than a twin: Venus spins backward, has a day longer than its year, and lacks any semblance of seasons. It might once have been a habitable ocean world, like Earth, but that was at least a billion years ago.

In Roman mythology, Venus is the goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, and victory. She is heavily borrowed from Aphrodite, the Greek equivalent of Venus. In turn, both are also believed to originally be the Mesopotamian Ishtar, the goddess of love and battle.

With the optimum amount of Sunlight falling on the Earth, it is the only planet that supports life on it.

However, the question remained whether Venus started its life as a more habitable planet before a runaway greenhouse gas effect baked it dry. But a new study from the University of Chicago argues there is little chance the planet was ever habitable.

Because Mercury and Venus are between us and the Sun, we only see them in the west after sunset and in the east before sunrise.

Why can't we stand on Venus? ›

The surface of Venus is completely inhospitable for life: barren, dry, crushed under an atmosphere about 90 times the pressure of Earth's and roasted by temperatures two times hotter than an oven.

The extreme and deadly conditions on the surface of Venus make it an unlikely place for human exploration, since even the most advanced space suits wouldn't be able to completely protect astronauts. Robotic spacecraft would fare better, since they can be made from very durable materials and don't need to breathe.

These results provided the first detailed understanding of the surface geology of Venus, including the discovery of unusual massive shield volcanoes such as coronae and arachnoids. Venus had no evidence of plate tectonics, unless the northern third of the planet happened to be a single plate.

Yes, several landers from the former Soviet Union have landed on Venus. They were only able to send us information for a short time because the extremely high temperature and pressure on the surface of Venus melted and crushed the landers.

And anyone who has ever sweated out a Pythagorean Theorem in school (A²+B²=C²) might find some solace in knowing that Greek mathematician Pythagoras sweated out the orbits of Venus, eventually becoming the first to determine that what had been believed to be unique and separate evening and morning stars (as believed by ...