9 INSANE Universe Theories That You Won’t Believe

 

Venus the goddess of beauty and love a charming deity that loves stirring up trouble among humans that is of course according to greek roman mythology and yet thousands of years after the ancients conceptualized the idea of this mischievous goddess and the very civilizations that worshipped her have fallen here we are we'll look at the sky and we see it a magnificent planet that just like its divine counterpart is guaranteed to make you fall in love welcome the Science Reads and today we will take you on an otherworldly journey into the meanders of Venus.

 what if i told you that our home planet earth had a twin in our same galaxy in our same solar system shocked you'd better be Venus and earth are almost the same size having about the same mass and have a very similar composition and what's more they are neighboring planets however they couldn't be more different the Venusian atmosphere is roughly 100 times thicker than earth's trapping sunlight in a disastrous greenhouse effect making its surface temperatures extremely hot so hot in fact that lead would melt

 with an average temperature of 864

 degrees fahrenheit this secures Venus the title as the hottest planet in the entire solar system while earth is covered with oceans filled with water and life Venus on the other hand is covered in volcanoes and lava and the surface pressure there is the same that we'd experience a mile below our oceans and to underscore how different these twins are just think that a day on Venus is 243 days on earth while one venusian year is only 225 earth days you got it right a venusian day is longer than a year that's because of its extremely slow rotation speed which is the slowest in our solar system and if that wasn't quirky enough add to it that Venus rotates in the opposite direction than earth and you'll see how different these twin planets are due to these unique conditions landing a probe on Venus has proven very difficult spacecraft needs shielding to withstand the scorching atmosphere and even robotic landers were only able to survive for a maximum of two hours still despite it all today we want to show you the best pictures taken in our 60 years of exploration a sneak peek into the sublime and elusive beauty of Venus first of all let's take a look from afar we can see how the entire planet is shrouded in clouds and what's more these clouds

 are partly made of oxygen

 doesn't that make you almost feel at home at the upper boundary of the venusian troposphere the lowest part of the atmosphere where clouds are formed carbon dioxide and water vapor react with sunlight resulting in an accumulation of oxygen carbon monoxide and hydrogen here comes the twist though oxygen reacts with the sulfur dioxide present in the troposphere which undergoes a series of chemical reactions resulting in sulfuric acid vapors these clouds are made of sulfuric acid putting aside how inhospitable that makes the planet let's keep in mind that Venus is the goddess of beauty not of friendliness these beautiful clouds thanks to the high reflective index of sulfuric acid reflects nearly 70 percent of the sunlight shining on the planet making it the brightest object in our sky right after the sun and moon now let's take a look under the clouds did you know that Venus is home to some of the tallest mountains in the solar system maxwell montez rises approximately 6.8 miles above the mean planetary radius and is home to giants that are nearly twice as tall as mount Everest and as expected of Venus everything about the planet has some quirk to it these mountains for instance are made of an unknown material unusually reflective to radar wavelengths that's also the reason for their relatively quick discovery exactly thanks to this peculiarity in radar images they are one of the brightest features on the planet hence maxwell montez in honor of the British physicist James clerk Maxwell whose research was the basis for radar technology but enough about simple mountains let's move on to giant volcanoes here is the Mat Mons the tallest volcano on Venus with an elevation of about 5 miles above the main planetary radius 3.1 miles from the surrounding terrain yes you got that right a volcano as tall as mount Venus and if that wasn't enough let's add

 that it may well be an active volcano

 a terrifying sight for a volcano named after the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice you should also know that the place these behemoths reside is what is called a

 terra a continent-sized highland

 area with very peculiar features

 let's move on to talk about the biggest and arguably most magnificent of the Venusian terry take a look at Aphrodite Terra Aphrodite has a size comparable to Africa and an elevation between 0.6 and 3 miles above the mean planetary radius what makes this terra especially quirky is how it's mostly made of tessera terrain tessera meaning mosaic tile is a very fitting name if we consider how these terrains are the most geologically complex region seen on venus highly rugged and deformed displaying parallel ridges and troughs cutting across one another at a wide range of angles these tesserae can be so complex that it is sometimes difficult to even imagine how they came to be the only certainty is that the lithosphere must have been under incredible stresses probably a consecution of elevation and crumbling in the same areas together with several other processes that built up to this weirdly charming surface another geological phenomenon to be aware of is the one behind the caronae that is to say the so-called crown of Venus typical of lata terra but also widespread through other areas of the planet these crowns are landmarks that came to be as a result of blobs of hot material moving from deep beneath the surface of the planet outwards towards the surface in their movement these blobs of material dye appears is their name elevate the crust and fracture it in a radial pattern as they approach the surface and cool the initially raised crust can collapse under its own weight this process results in concentric faults and the typical outline of a corona a constellation of faults fractures and ridges sometimes in a circular fashion atop a broad and gently sloping elevated terrain indeed these are such cases where there's more than meets the eye an entire story an entire geological history of disasters that culminated in what we now see with wonder it's been 27 years since nasa last launched a mission to study the fascinating world of Venus with all the amazing and mysterious things we now know about the planet it was high time that nasa shifted its focus on earth's evil twin could Venus be a habitable world full of liquid oceans that of course is the burning question that everyone wants to know and that's exactly what nasa's DAVINCI mission seeks to find out Lori Glaze a nasa research scientist made the following statement Venus is a fascinating planet that has so many mysteries yet for us to discover and i think we need to better understand it we need to get back to Venus

 the mission is set to be launched at the end of this decade in 2029 the new mission will be carried out in two separate segments with the first being several flybys of the planet one can only imagine the amazing close-up look we will get at the planet of love the second segment however is the most exciting yet for the first time ever a probe will be dropped into the planet's upper atmosphere it's important to remember that the atmosphere on Venus is about 90 times denser than the atmosphere on planet earth which will no doubt prove to be a challenge the probe will slowly descend into Venus's atmosphere and begin taking readings of its composition the main objective here is not only to collect data on structure and composition but to hunt for any signs of oxygen that could give us a clue about the presence of water the DAVINCI will use the compact ultraviolet to visible imaging spectrometer kuvis an imaging spacecraft to investigate the planet's dayside and collect data about previously undiscovered substances in Venus's upper atmosphere while the venous imaging system for observational reconnaissance or visor will explore the night side of Venus during the second flyby to learn more about how the

 planet's highlands evolved over time

 well after almost being neglected for the past three decades because it was deemed to be a dead planet by scientists it now looks like Venus will be getting the attention she finally deserves nasa is shelling out the big box around 500 million dollars to be exact and we'll be launching at least two such probes into its atmosphere and only time will tell how successful they will be as they enter the planet's hellish and noxious atmosphere and now that we approach the most exciting part of our journey here comes a treat for the eyes during the cold war Russia and America were at the forefront of space exploration and we have the Russian space agency to thank for these pictures of Venus the project name was Venera although documentation on the program is sparse as it took place in the former soviet union we know that the first successful Venus mission took place in 1967 with venera 4 replicating the success with Venera 7. and finally in 1975 with Venera 9 and 10 we received the first pictures from the Venusian surface these images are as you can see in black and white but the mission as a whole signified an enormous advancement in our studies of the elusive planet sadly the landers didn't survive the ferocious climate long enough to transmit many images but their success was replicated once again by Venera 13 and 14 this time with color cameras allowing us to witness the surface of Venus with our own eyes as if we were there Venera 13 survived the astonishing time of 127 minutes 127 minutes spent not only taking pictures but running all sorts of analyses just like the previous landers while the Venera 14 survived only little less than one hour the color picture showed just how desolate Venus is with its yellowish haze and barren terrain yet there is a certain primordial beauty to it a feeling that digs inside your heart and resounds with the knowledge that with your own eyes you are seeing Venus so what do you think would you like to take an up close and personal look at Venus tell us in the comments if you're feeling generous you can buy us a coffee with the link in the description this will help us towards our goal of bringing you better and longer articles every single day of the week and as always thanks for reading we'll see you next time