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        New Message Board Archives >> 2007 General Board Posts >> Wow!
        
(Message started by: George_J on Oct 9^th, 2007, 9:04am)

Title: Wow!
Post by George_J on Oct 9^th, 2007, 9:04am

Right before sunrise here, and I just stepped outside--the planet Venus is so bright it'll knock your socks off.

It's nearby in its orbit now, and a good telescope will show a clear crescent.

Best,

George

Title: Re: Wow!
Post by Kevin_M on Oct 9^th, 2007, 10:59am

It's crescent shows it's closest and very brightest constrast to us, no wonder it was associated with beauty. ;)

The U.S. had an early interest in Venus but then concentrated more on Mars. Mariner 2, launched Aug 27th did a 3 1/2 month cruise, speeding past Venus Dec. 14, 1962, and confirming it's backward spin and high temps. Previously there were ideas of life there.
Mariner 5 was intended as a backup to Mariner 4, the first to fly past Mars, but was retooled for a close-up of Venus, arriving Oct. '67.
Mariner 10 went to Mercury and was first to use a "gravity assist" from Venus to get to Mercury while Venus was also in this position Oct 16th - Nov 21, 1973, launching Nov 3rd and reaching Venus Feb 4th, 1974.

U.S. interest in Venus dwindled greatly for a long while but the Soviets maintained a high interest and with the spectacular success of their Venera program, bringing Venus back into U.S. ideas and using a LOT of money with, I think the Pioneer program.

An intriguing mystery about Venus. All four probes went haywire at an altitude of 12.5 kms. A simultaneous power-spike jolted the onboard instrumentations; temp and pressure sensors transmitted weird numbers and some instrumentation ceased entirely at that altitude even though they were widely dispersed; dayside, nightside, north, etc.
Over a decade later, 1993, NASA convened a conference to investigate this "12.5 km anomaly" but no clear answer emerged, and no answer today.
Mapping of Venus surface though had begun and a stripped down program, Magellan, using a radar mapping orbit, was launched from the Atlantis, May 4, 1989 -- the first probe ever to be launched from a space shuttle.

Just thought I'd throw in some U.S. space history, and mystery about Venus. Most all from "Lives of the Planets"

:)

Title: Re: Wow!
Post by Karla on Oct 9^th, 2007, 11:06am

I was outside at 5am and noticed the brightness of it also. I love watching the sunrise it is so beautiful. My husband likes watching sunsets.

Title: Re: Wow!
Post by Brewcrew on Oct 9^th, 2007, 11:09am

on 10/09/07 at 11:06:04, Karla wrote:

I was outside at 5am and noticed the brightness of it also. I love watching the sunrise it is so beautiful. My husband likes watching sunsets.

And I like looking directly at the sun when it is bright and directly overhead. Between the three of us, we've got it mostly covered. ;;D Except I'm mostly blind now.

Title: Re: Wow!
Post by Miss Independent on Oct 9^th, 2007, 7:59pm

Getting up early, driving down to the lakefront and watching the sunrise.

I should do that more often...

Title: Re: Wow!
Post by Kevin_M on Oct 9^th, 2007, 8:19pm

on 10/09/07 at 19:59:21, Miss Independent wrote:

Getting up early, driving down to the lakefront and watching the sunrise.

I should do that more often...

I've seen what George is talking about while leaving for work in early mornings and it's admiration is mesmerizingly attractive. But I was in no way up that early this morning to say "yeah, that is really something". ;) so chose to comment differently instead of saying, "I remember seeing that once", although I did stop to just enjoy it's sparkling brightness, at the time very noticeably accentuating the early morning darkness despite a clear black sky full of stars and the beauty of the beginning shades of blue starting to emerge and blend. :)