Venus - Beauty & the Beast

Since ancient times, the planet Venus has been shrouded in myths & mysteries and it is only recently that we have been able to see past the veil of this beautiful but dangerous planet. The beauty, danger, myth and mystery are appropriate for a planet named after a woman, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus. In fact it is the only planet in our solar system to be named after a goddess.

The planet Venus is the closest to the sun after Mercury and is our nearest neighbour after the moon. It is one of the brightest objects in the sky and is clearly visible to the naked eye. In fact it is overshadowed or should we say over-lighted only by the sun and the moon and is therefore often mistaken for a star. Being quite similar to our planet, at least in terms of mass and diameter, it was often referred to as the ‘Earth’s sister planet’.

Another interesting fact is that it rises and sets with the sun. During ancient times it was thought that the rising and the setting objects were different. The one that rose with the sun was called ‘the morning star’ (Eosphorus) and the one that set was called ‘the evening star’ (Hesperus).

Venus rotates in the opposite direction to all the other planets, so if you are on the planet, you will see the sun rising in the west and setting in the east, but you will have to wait a long time in terms of earth days, because a day on Venus, i.e. the time taken for the planet to rotate once around its axis, is 243 earth days. It is interesting to note that the planet takes only 225 earth days to revolve once around the sun.

It is difficult to talk about the when, where and who of Venus’ discovery, because it was always visible, but it is only recently with probes being sent that we have uncovered so many of her secrets hidden behind a cover of thick swirling clouds. The cover itself mainly consists of sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide.

Although Venus looks beautiful at first sight, looks can be deceptive and a glimpse of the surface below the cloud cover will show that in this case beauty is skin deep. The surface of the planet is so hot that it can melt lead; temperatures reach 480 deg Celsius (approx 900 F / 750 K). Volcanoes dot the planet’s face and Venus has more volcanoes than any other planet in the solar system. In fact, a lava-filled basin occupies an area larger than that of the United States. Winds blow constantly at speeds of around 350 Km/h (approx 217 mph), atmospheric pressure is around 92 bars (pressure on the earth’s surface is 1 bar) and radar imaging shows that most of Venus’ surface is covered with lava.

There is no water on the planet but it is likely that like Earth, Venus had large amounts of water, which boiled away. It is just our luck that the Earth is placed exactly at the right distance from the sun, where it is neither too hot nor too cold. Speaking of Earth, Venus is a perfect example of the greenhouse effect on a planetary level and should serve us as an example of what can happen to earth if we are not careful.

Myths about Venus

In ancient times, the planet Venus was both feared and revered. The ancient Mayans aligned the doors and windows of their buildings for astronomical sightings, mainly according to the planet Venus. Venus was also revered as the planet of warfare and offerings were made to it along with the sun. They also probably considered the planet to be evil as it was thought inauspicious to let the light from Venus enter their houses lest it bring problems and sickness with it.

Hymns had been composed in its honour where the planet was honoured as the goddess Inanna, and was said to dominate the sky, rain fire and bring destruction. The Sumerians, the Aztecs and the Mayans amongst others held Venus in fear and awe and the Aztecs even offered human sacrifices to placate it.

Our ancestors assumed that the movements of Venus were harbingers of life & death, war & peace and feast & famine and so studied the movements in great details. In fact the Mayans were aware of the motions of the planet to a great accuracy.

It was also assumed that Venus was perhaps home to a civilization like ours and had earth like features including a tropical climate, oceans and atmosphere. Of course the missions sent to Venus have a different tale to tell.

One important event that happens today is the ‘transit of Venus’, in which the planet passes directly between earth and the sun and appears to travel across the face of the sun. This is a very rare event but perhaps to celebrate its sisterhood with earth, the alignment happens in pairs. Since the invention of the telescope, the transits have happened in 1631 & 1639, 1761 & 1769, 1874 & 1882 and the next one will be on the 6th of June 2012. The next pair will occur a century later, i.e. in 2117 and 2125. Another interesting aspect is that the transits recur at intervals of 8, 121.5, 8 and 105.5 years.

So the next time that you look into the sky and see the planet Venus, remember that behind the façade of beauty is power and strength, just like in a woman.