{"id":6859,"date":"2014-03-12T05:25:03","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T05:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6859"},"modified":"2014-03-12T05:25:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T05:25:03","slug":"venus-express-sees-a-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6859","title":{"rendered":"Venus Express sees a glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

A post by ESA about a recent observation from the Venus Express<\/a> orbiter:<\/p>\n

Venus glory<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A rainbow-like feature known as a \u2018glory\u2019 has been seen by ESA\u2019s Venus Express orbiter in the atmosphere of our nearest neighbour \u2013 the first time one has been fully imaged on another planet.<\/p>\n

Rainbows and glories occur when sunlight shines on cloud droplets \u2013 water particles in the case of Earth. While rainbows arch across wide swathes of the sky, glories are typically much smaller and comprise a series of coloured concentric rings centred on a bright core.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>False colour composite of a \u2018glory\u2019 seen on Venus on 24 July 2011. The<\/em>
\n image is composed of three images at ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared <\/em>
\nwavelengths from the Venus Monitoring Camera. The images were taken <\/em>
\n10 seconds apart and, due to the motion of the spacecraft, do not overlap <\/em>
\nperfectly. The glory is 1200 km across, as seen from the <\/em>
\nspacecraft, 6000 km away.<\/em><\/p>\n

Glories are only seen when the observer is situated directly between the Sun and the cloud particles that are reflecting sunlight. On Earth, they are often seen from aeroplanes, surrounding the shadow of the aircraft on the clouds below, or around the shadow of climbers atop misty mountain peaks.<\/p>\n

A glory requires two characteristics: the cloud particles are spherical, and therefore most likely liquid droplets, and they are all of a similar size.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Venus glory details
\nThree images showing the glory at ultraviolet (left,) visible (centre) and
\nnear-infrared (right) wavelengths as taken by the Venus Monitoring Camera.
\nThe feature was observed on 24 July 2011 and measures 1200 km
\nacross, as seen from the spacecraft, 6000 km away
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The atmosphere of Venus is thought to contain droplets rich in sulphuric acid. By imaging the clouds with the Sun directly behind the Venus Express spacecraft, scientists hoped to spot a glory in order to determine important characteristics of the cloud droplets.<\/p>\n

They were successful. The glory in the images here was seen at the Venus cloud tops, 70 km above the planet\u2019s surface, on 24 July 2011. It is 1200 km wide as seen from the spacecraft, 6000 km away.<\/p>\n

From these observations, the cloud particles are estimated to be 1.2 micrometres across, roughly a fiftieth of the width of a human hair.<\/p>\n

The fact that the glory is 1200 km wide means that the particles at the cloud tops are uniform on this scale at least.<\/p>\n

The variations of brightness of the rings of the observed glory is different than that expected from clouds of only sulphuric acid mixed with water, suggesting that other chemistry may be at play.<\/p>\n

One idea is that the cause is the \u201cUV-absorber\u201d, an unknown atmospheric component responsible for mysterious dark markings seen in the cloud tops of Venus at ultraviolet wavelengths. More investigation is needed to draw a firm conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A post by ESA about a recent observation from the Venus Express orbiter: Venus glory\u00a0 A rainbow-like feature known as a \u2018glory\u2019 has been seen by ESA\u2019s Venus Express orbiter in the atmosphere of our nearest neighbour \u2013 the first time one has been fully imaged on another planet. Rainbows and glories occur when sunlight … Continue reading Venus Express sees a glory<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mercury-and-venus","category-space-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-1MD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22810,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22810","url_meta":{"origin":6859,"position":0},"title":"Space sciences roundup – Oct.19.2020","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images from space-related science news items (find previous roundups here): ** Asteroids and Comets ** OSIRIS-REx set to touch down briefly on Bennu - The Long Arm of NASA: The OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Gets Ready To Grab An Asteroid Sample - IEEE Spectrum Sixteen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Space sciences roundup"","block_context":{"text":"Space sciences roundup","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=107"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/content_slide.ano_.smreduced1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8245,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8245","url_meta":{"origin":6859,"position":1},"title":"Colonies on the clouds of Venus","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Living atop the clouds of Venus might be feasible and offer some\u00a0advantages over the surface of Mars: The Surprisingly Strong Case for Colonizing Venus: \u00a0Science fiction writers have come up with a plausible scenario for a floating city above the fiery planet - CityLab Venus | Selenian Boondocks Colonization of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Living in Space"","block_context":{"text":"Living in Space","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/1M1efuVDY_A\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9492,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9492","url_meta":{"origin":6859,"position":2},"title":"Exploring Venus with an air ship","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years there have been those who have argued that Venus, not Mars, is the best place for humans to explore and even settle. 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