Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 15

INFOGRAPHIC: TERRI DUBÉ / S&T; VENUS: NASA / GSFC SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION STUDIO; EARTH:
S&T ILLUSTRATION; ATMOSPHERES OF VENUS AND EARTH: GREGG DINDERMAN / S&T
Altitude (kilometers)
Pressure (bar)
Altitude (kilometers)
Pressure (bar)
VENUS VS. EARTH
Venus and Earth share
similar sizes, masses,
densities, and even
distances from the Sun.
But Venus's atmosphere
and rotation make it
dramatically different
from our planet.
uVenus rotates slowly clockwise (unlike
Earth), but it orbits the Sun counterclockwise
(as all the planets do).
So although it takes 243 Earth days to
rotate once about its axis - called its
sidereal day - it takes 117 Earth days
for the Sun to travel from noon to noon
at Venus's equator (its solar day). Complicating
matters, Venus's cloud deck
circles the planet in about four Earth
days, for reasons unknown.
(Not to scale)
SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT
1 bar
Surface
pressure
Mass
12,756 km
1
Earth
0.82
Earth
108 million km
92 bars
Surface
pressure
Mass
12,104 km
150 million km
DISTANCE
TO THE SUN
EARTH
VENUS
1 day
Planet
completes
a rotation
365 days
Year
4 days
Time for atmosphere
to circle the planet
243 days
Planet completes
a rotation
225 days
Year
117 days
Solar day on surface
(noon to noon)
140
160
180
200
220
240
Earth
140
160
180
200
220
240
10-8
120
100
80
60
40
20
(-173°C)
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Ozone layer
Troposphere
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Temperature (K)
(727°C)
0.1
10-2
10-3
10-4
10-6
1
Thermosphere
120
100
80
60
40
20
100
(-173°C)
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Temperature (K)
(727°C)
ATMOSPHERES AT A GLANCE Atmospheric pressure, ground heating, solar heating, and chemistry combine to create unique conditions on Venus
and Earth. The troposphere is where weather happens: Molecules that exist as gases near the warm ground cool and condense to cloud-forming
droplets as they rise in altitude. Clouds rarely go above the troposphere, because above it, temperature increases and pressure decreases, and a
cloud's molecules change to gas again. Conditions don't permit Venusian clouds to form until roughly 50 km up - about three times higher than
Earth's clouds ever reach. At this altitude on Venus, temperature and pressure are Earth-like.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * MAY 2022 15
Mesosphere
Global cloud layer
Troposphere
Upper
Middle
Lower
33
9.6
1
10-2
10-4
92
Venus
Thermosphere (day)
10-8

Sky & Telescope - May 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - May 2022

Contents
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 1
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 3
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 4
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 5
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 6
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 7
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - 8
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Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - Cover3
Sky & Telescope - May 2022 - Cover4
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