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Venus atmosphere and rotation

24 June 2018
Astronomy

Sent in by Gary. At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5869657/Hellish-atmosphere-Venus… …. researchers used computer simulation to model the atmosphere of Venus. A Japanese satellite, Akatsuki, witnessed a bow shaped cloud structure on Venus and their model says it can be explained by atmospheric waves forming over a mountainous region of the planet. Fast flowing winds interact with gases in the vicinity of the mountains in order to produce the cloud formation. In addition, the 6200 mile cloud exerts a gravitational pull on Venus – causing variations in its length of day. The headline is that days on Venus might be getting shorter by 2 minutes on each rotation thanks to it hellish atmosphere. The spin of Venus changes as a result of fast flowing gases meeting obstacles such as mountain ridges. This is said to explain why astronomers have had so much difficulty to work out a precise length of day on Venus.

However, if it is is losing 2 minutes of its day time on each rotation of the planet and Venus is the same age as the earth, 4.5 billion years – why hasn't the day disappeared althogether.

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