Thursday, June 03, 2021

Venus

Oooooh.  NASA (is there still such a thing?) is heading to Venus.  The first time in 30 years. 

I mean, this is happening in 2029 and 2030, with two different manless probes, so it is potentially not even happening in my life time. 

I love seeing Venus on my early morning Shep walks. It's so bright, clear and stands out from anything star-related. I had no idea it is comparable in size, composition and mass of Earth. 

It's about 900 degrees on its surface, but in a few more years, so will Earth, so.........

Venus has held interest with me since grade school. I remember reading this story of people who live on the planet and get to see the sun once every seven years (or some such small time frame) - and only for a few minutes. And the kids at this school lock another student in the closet - so she misses it. 

It's probably a good lesson story, in retrospect. At the time, it seemed horribly cruel. 

With a few word Goooooogle search, it turns out the story is called All Summer in a Day.  Did anyone else remember reading that way way way back when? 

It turns out it was written by Ray Bradbury. This I had zero remembrance of.  But I was like 11, what did I know from Bradbury back then. 

I hope to make it another 8-9 years to see what comes from these two probes. 



Song by: Shocking Blue

2 comments:

James Dwight Williamson said...

So light and Happy 😊 So Dark , child locked in closet! Fahrenheit 451 , Ray Bradbury almost takes no prisoners! Interesting post Thanks!

Raybeard said...

Venus is the planet having its size closest to that of Earth, only it's slightly smaller. In other respects its many peculiarities indicate that if one is of the opinion that, like Earth, it was created by 'God' then if he'd wanted to create the most hostile imaginable Hell as our neighbour then he achieved it. Apart from the surface temperature you mention [four times that of water's boiling point on Earth!] the ultra-toxic carbon-dioxide air is so heavy and thick it's equivalent to walking underwater a mile down. Any 'Rain' is pure sulphuric acid which, 'cos the place is so hot, only falls between the upper layers of clouds, it being evaporated in the heat long before it gets anywhere near the ground - so at least there's not that to worry about. As for any spacecraft lasting more than a couple of minutes [max] on the surface before it all completely melts around you, forget it. Apart from such things it'd be a nice place to take a holiday break. The 'Planet of Peace'? Yeah, right!
Couple more things on its uniqueness. It's the only planet whose 'day' is longer than its year as it rotates so slowly. And it's also unique in that its direction of spin is counter to that of all the other planets - so, if the clouds weren't as thick as they are you'd see the sun rising in the west - at a pace slower than that of an arthritic snail, of course - and then several months later, setting in the east.
All the planets have their own enigmas, of course, but it would be hard to beat those of Venus.

Oh, I've just recalled. Didn't you a year or two back mention your own fascination with Astronomy? I do believe you did. So if I'm right I'll have not told you anything you probably already knew - which, if being the case, just ignore everything I've just written.
La la la LA LA la.........etc.