Latest Observations and explorations of Venus Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Astronomers writing in the journal Nature Geoscience say they have been closely monitoring the movement of a huge whirlwind the size of Europe on Venus. Researchers from Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV) used an instrument on board the European Space Agency's (ESA) Venus Express spacecraft to monitor the evolution of the south pole vortex. The team monitored the movement of the vortex on two separate main cloud levels in Venus'...

[Watch the Video: A Day in the Life of Venus Express] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a video of a day in the life of the Venus Express, the spacecraft currently orbiting the second planet from the Sun. The video begins with a view 41,000 miles above Venus’ south pole, looking down at its southern polar vortex. "From this bird’s-eye view, half of the planet is in darkness, the ‘terminator’ marking the dividing...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency (ESA) has been observing Earth’s sister planet for six years with its polar orbiter Venus Express. During its visit of the second planet from the sun, the orbiter has shown huge changes in sulphur dioxide content in the planet’s atmosphere, leading experts to believe volcanic activity has been increasing on the surface of Venus. ESA officials explain that Venus’s thick atmosphere contains more than...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An image released by the European Space Agency shows how not-alike Earth's twin planet really is. The Venus Express spacecraft snapped an image last December showing off clouds on Venus, and how they wrap the planet and its entirety. The spacecraft took the image 18,600 miles above the surface of Venus, showing the planet's 12 mile-thick carbon dioxide and sulphuric dioxide haze. The ultraviolet light image taken by Venus Express...

John Neumann for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Eight years ago this month, in 2004, the MESSENGER space probe was launched on a six-and-a-half year, 4.9-billion mile journey to be the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury. The leisurely cruise included 15 trips around the Sun, a flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury. During its gravity assist swing-by of Earth, on August 2, 2005, Messenger’s cameras captured several hundred images of our planet....

[ Watch the Video ] Astronomers around the world looked to the sky last night and this morning to observe Venus as it passed across the face of the Sun for the last time this century. ESA’s Sun-watching space missions also tuned in for the solar spectacular. ESA’s microsatellite Proba-2, situated in low-Earth orbit, tracked Venus as it moved across the solar disc over a period of nearly seven hours. Venus appears to wobble thanks to the slight up-down motion of Proba-2 and the large...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com The Transit of Venus is upon us, so grab your sun viewing spectacles, head outside, and go get yourself a look at a cosmic event. For those kiddos that will be born today, or in the next few years, statistically speaking you will be able to rub this moment in most of their faces when they get older, because they will not get to see Venus pass by the Sun at any point in their lifetime. The next time the Transit of Venus will occur will be the year 2117....

[ Watch the Video ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com If you aren't looking up towards the sun tomorrow with the proper eye equipment, then a special moment is going to pass you by. The Transit of Venus is taking place on Tuesday, and it will not be seen again until 2117. The transits of Venus occur in pairs once every 100 years, so this upcoming transit is the last until the next generation gets their opportunity. Astronaut Don Pettit is up in the International Space Station armed...

Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.com In two more weeks, the Earth will get to view a spectacle that hasn't been seen in eight years, and will not be seen again until 2117. Venus will pass across the face of the sun, producing a tiny silhouette, like a small freckle on a face. The 7-hour transit will be observed on all seven continents on Tuesday, June 5, starting at 5:09 p.m. Central Time. The transits of Venus first gained popularity back in the 18th century, a time when the solar system...

A once-in-a-lifetime event is on its way -- an event that hasn’t occurred since 1882 and will not occur again until 2117 -- and will be a spectacular event for millions of people all around the world. The Transit of Venus, as it is called, occurs when the planet passes across the face of the Sun. It is viewable from Earth as a small black dot on the solar surface and takes about six hours to complete its transit. The event will occur on June 5 and 6 and will be visible across much of the...