In the heavy skies of Venus, composed mainly of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid, a giant atmospheric “rip”, still unknown elsewhere in the Solar System, moves fast at 50 kilometers of altitude and remained unnoticed for at least 35 years. Its discovery is presented in a study published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal.
“With coordinated observations (…) we were able to detect this recurring wave that moves around the planet at about 300 km/h and takes more or less five days to appear again in our field of view, seen from the Earth.”
This study, led by the Japanese space agency JAXA, had the contribution of Pedro Machado, of Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) and Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (Ciências ULisboa).
Pedro Machado explained to program “E=mc2”, from Rádio Observador, the importance of this discovery and the reason why it only happened now. The podcast is in Portuguese.
Investigadores descobrem “rasgão” gigante em Vénus (Researchers find a giant “rip” in Venus)
E=mc2, Observador, 6 de agosto, 2020
