Home ›

Venus' Atmosphere Thinner Over the Poles

in
Department: 
Venus
Teaser: 

"The polar atmosphere of Venus is thinner than expected. How do we know? Because ESA's Venus Express has actually been there. Instead of looking from orbit, Venus Express has flown through the upper reaches of the planet's poisonous atmosphere."

Link: 

Venus Express finds planetary atmospheres such a drag

Source: 

ESA Top News Download time: Oct 7 2010 7:36 AM ET

The polar atmosphere of Venus is thinner than expected. How do we know? Because ESA's Venus Express has actually been there. Instead of looking from orbit, Venus Express has flown through the upper reaches of the planet's poisonous atmosphere.

 

Venus Express went diving into the alien atmosphere during a series of low passes in July–August 2008, October 2009, and February and April 2010. The aim was to measure the density of the upper polar atmosphere, an experiment that had never been attempted before at Venus.

The campaign has returned 10 measurements so far and shown that the atmosphere high above the poles is a surprising 60% thinner than predicted.…