Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Just What IS That?
March 14, 2008 4:00 PM
Please take a look at the image that comes with this post and try to guess what it is. Could it be...
A) The exhaust from a shuttle's solid rocket booster?
B) A double-vortex hurricane at the south pole of Venus?
C) "Feathers." Mark Rothko, 1937. Oil on canvas.
D) Something else? Suggestions, serious and otherwise, are most welcome.
I almost hate to ruin it, but the answer is B. Venus Express, an orbiter sent by the European Space Agency, has been watching a giant storm raging around the Venusian south pole since it arrived there in 2006.
The vortex is about 1,300 miles across, and it's been going for some time; the American Mariner 10 probe saw it in 1974. There's something similar going on at the Venusian north pole too; the Pioneer Venus mission found that in 1979. Read more HERE.
Venus is hardly the only planet so afflicted. You may recall we had some fun with the north pole of Saturn last year.
Click HERE for more, including the newest infrared images, though personally, I think that since they're in black and white, they look like a smoke-filled room at the 1928 Democratic convention. (The infrared is used to show temperature differences. Images in visible light of Venus' thick atmosphere are almost featureless.)
ESA quotes Colin Wilson of Oxford: “One explanation is that atmospheric gases heated by the Sun at the equator, rise and then move poleward. In the polar regions, they converge and sink again. As the gases move towards the poles, they are deflected sideways because of the planet’s rotation.”
Personally, I don't buy that for a second. I think the Venusians are toying with us.
March 14, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (35)
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I think you're close, Ned, but in reality it's the Venusian government trying their hand at weather modification. Looks like it got away from them. Kinda makes one wonder if they didn't consult with the science staff at the White House.
Posted by: Andy | Mar 14, 2008 5:14:01 PM
I agree. Those darn Venusians are up to no good. Perhaps we could send them the Mayan Calender to mess with them now. That'll show'em.
That is an interesting meteorilogical happening. I wonder if it has ever occured on our planet as well?
Posted by: Lawrence | Mar 14, 2008 5:15:04 PM
I am glad it did not enter into the text nor dialogue of my physics class. That 'S' shape looks much like
a sin wave of some sort.
pfff what do I know.
Posted by: Deborah | Mar 14, 2008 5:54:23 PM
No! Could it be? Weak perhaps, but gaining strength, yes it is - Sauron lives.
Posted by: William | Mar 14, 2008 6:01:03 PM
looks more like the sound hole (f-hole) in a violin/viola/cello etc to me.... but likewise pffffft ...what do i know? ;)
Posted by: bah | Mar 14, 2008 6:01:09 PM
I am the only one who thinks it looks like the symbol for infinity? (you know: the number eight layed out on its side)
Posted by: Rick | Mar 14, 2008 6:30:14 PM
I just thought Nike had made an advertising deal with the Venusians and they got the logo a little wrong.
Posted by: jock59801 | Mar 14, 2008 6:34:33 PM
Ned,
Why don't you ask Senator John McCain, presidential candidate, to tell the public what he knows about the Phoenix Lights incident in March 1997. Hundreds of thousands of people witnessed a mile-wide craft hovering over McCain's home city of Phoenix. The former Governor of the state, Fife Symington, held a press conference at the National Press Club last year along with representatives from the British Ministry of Defense, where Symington claimed the object hovering over Phoenix was 'some form of an alien spacecraft' (his words not mind). Why does the media ignore this obviously important news story? The least you can do is ask McCain about it.
freedomofinfo.org/national_press.htm
Posted by: Eric | Mar 14, 2008 6:49:19 PM
Eric,
McCain is a politician. Do you really believe he'd give you a straight answer, even if he knew? He'll just wink and claim national security.
Posted by: Andy | Mar 14, 2008 7:04:00 PM
Whatever it is it must be appeased.
Posted by: Amazing G | Mar 14, 2008 7:21:06 PM
"Ask Senator McCain"? -- come on -- puleeze. Why is everything some big conspiracy that the government is hiding. The government can't even run one agency effeciently -- how does anyone with half of a brain expect them to keep a secret for many years. Put some tin foil on your head and take two aspirin....
Posted by: WillRobinson | Mar 14, 2008 7:39:25 PM
I've always suspected there is big money, for some people, in conspiracies.
Posted by: Shoemaker | Mar 14, 2008 8:53:33 PM
They have science staff at the White House under this administration. I thought it was all "faith based". But faith in what?
Posted by: Andy Clark | Mar 14, 2008 9:06:55 PM
Venus must have Global warming too!!! Time for Al "save the dinosaurs" Gore to demand a Martian Protocol signed by all aliens to thwart this catastrophic happening undoubtedly connected to George Bush!
Posted by: rockychance | Mar 14, 2008 9:26:07 PM
Hold everything!
I thought ONLY man caused climate change????? Hmmmmm.
Oh this isn't going to sit well with Al Gore or his sheeple.
Posted by: Jade | Mar 14, 2008 9:31:18 PM
wow! It's almost interesting enough to justify the cost and take my mind of real Earthly issues. NOT!!!
Posted by: Tor | Mar 14, 2008 9:57:45 PM
Actually, Venus has been subject to "global warming," with a runaway greenhouse effect of over 500 degrees compared to only 33 degrees for the Earth. Fortunately, scientists don't think the Earth could have quite that same kind of runaway greenhouse effect because it is so much further from the sun. But that doesn't mean another 5 degrees for us won't mess things up but good.
Posted by: jock59801 | Mar 14, 2008 10:21:01 PM
Its a UFO.
Posted by: Suzannaquanashawn | Mar 14, 2008 11:50:19 PM
Cool looking but I have had enough problems with real hurricanea.Yep,Al just lost his whole basis-now people what causes global warming.Dont say only because they are closer to the sun,because that only accounts for the higher temp than us.
Posted by: lauras_webproject | Mar 14, 2008 11:52:02 PM
Lauras - But it IS the higher temperature on Venus (due to closer proximity to the sun) that allows the runaway greenhouse effect, because the water vapor does not rain out when the air gets saturated as it does on Earth. The temperature keeps going up and all of the CO2 is released into the atmosphere. So now the atmosphere of Venus is almost pure CO2 and its greenhouse effect is over 400 degrees. There is almost know water left either, which makes this hurricane phenomenon all the more weird.
Posted by: jock59801 | Mar 15, 2008 12:44:33 AM
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