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Surprise! Hot Venus has a Cold Upper Atmosphere
Venus’ terminator – the transitional region between day and night — may fuel an unusually cold region in the atmosphere. Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
The hottest planet in the Solar System has a surprisingly cold region high in the planet’s atmosphere, according to new findings by the Venus Express spacecraft. While surface temperatures on this hot and hostile planet tops out at 735 Kelvin, or 462 degrees Celsius, ESA scientists say that a layer in the atmosphere about 125 km up has temperatures of around –175 degrees C, and may be cold enough for carbon dioxide to freeze out as ice or snow.
This means this curious cold layer is much colder than any part of Earth’s atmosphere even though Venus is known for its dense, blistering atmosphere and is much closer to the Sun. Additionally, the cold layer appears to be affected by the transitioning between day and night on Venus.
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Read the rest of Surprise! Hot Venus has a Cold Upper Atmosphere (400 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
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2012-10-01 13:47:52
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/97662/surprise-hot-venus-has-a-cold-upper-atmosphere/
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