Throughout the years, scientists have come across data from planets, stars, and galaxies that are abnormal to what we would normally expect. For example, some stars behave in such an odd way that it is hard for us to classify whether it is a star or a galaxy. Some exoplanets’ (planets in other solar systems) temperatures can be much hotter than the Sun even though it doesn’t have the same composition. Luckily for us, these strange behaviors run in our solar system as well, with one of these being the odd behaviors of Venus.
For one thing, Venus spins in the opposite direction on Earth, so in the Venesuain planet, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east. This begs the question, why does Venus spin in the opposite direction as other planets? Well, its formation is hypothesized to be the same as the rest of the planets in the solar system, and yet it still behaves differently from most. When the solar system began to form, asteroids and meteors were shooting all over the place and were much larger and faster than what we see currently. If one of these asteroids hit Venus in orbit, it could have altered its rotation. This might also explain why Uranus orbits on its side rather than rotating clockwise (our solar system has some really strange planets!)
The mystique behind Venus is not over yet, as we have yet to uncover another mystery, and that is its temperature. As some of you may have had to make the solar system model in elementary school, you may know that the closest planet to the sun is Mercury. Given its close proximity to the star, temperatures on the planet can reach as high as 430 degrees Celsius! Interestingly enough, you’d expect it to be hotter than Venus since it’s closer to the sun, but it isn’t. Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system because of a phenomenon called the Runaway Greenhouse Effect.
The Runway Greenhouse is typically seen on planets with a greenhouse atmosphere (i.e., consisting of compounds such as carbon dioxide and methane). These compounds trap the heat radiated from the sun and essentially form a warm blanket around the planet. As a result of the increasing number of greenhouse gases on earth, global temperatures are increasing (but this is a topic that will be visited in a future blog!) Venus experiences the same phenomenon because it has compounds that trap heat, unlike Mercury. If this is confusing to you, think of it this way: Venus and Mercury are two siblings, and they are both cold and want a warm blanket. Their parent decides to give a blanket to Venus, leaving Mercury to be much colder than Venus, explaining the temperature difference. It's not a pleasant example, but hopefully, it drives the idea home!
Do you ever feel disdained at the end of the day when you realize that you didn’t do everything you had planned for the day because you just didn’t have the time? Well, turn that frown upside down because if you think 24 hours for a day is too short, go to Venus, where a day lasts 243 days! (Please do not consider going because its toxic atmosphere would not support life even for a millisecond!) Oddly enough, a day on Venus is much longer than a year on the planet. You’re probably thinking that it’s impossible, but somehow, it makes sense. The planet rotates very slowly on its axis, making a day on Venus last 243 Earth days. The planet, however, orbits the sun much faster, around 225 Earth days.
Venus has many mysteries hidden beneath its thick and toxic environment that scientists have been trying to uncover for decades. Hopefully, as technology is being revolutionized further, we can uncover this hot planet and see what things it is hiding.
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