Venus: Earth's Toxic Twin - Cosmic Canvas Special Unlock the secrets of our closest planetary neighbor in this groundbreaking exploration of Venus - a world of superheated lead oceans, continent-sized lava flows, and mysterious phosphine signals that could rewrite the search for alien life.
🚀 Key Revelations:
Ancient Astronomers' Precision: How 2000-year-old Chinese bamboo scrolls predicted Venus' orbit within 0.48 days of modern calculations
Soviet Space Triumphs: The untold story of Venera 13 surviving 500°C hell to capture Venus' first color photos & sounds
Volcanic Apocalypse: Maat Mons' eruptions could drown North America under 3-meter lava tides
Biosignature Mystery: Phosphine gas in Venusian clouds (20ppb) - chemical accident or alien microbes?
Cosmic Contradiction: Why a day lasts longer than a year on this backward-spinning planet
🔍 Investigative Journey Includes:
NASA's Magellan radar maps revealing 1,600 active volcanoes
Critical Probe Failures: How a 1962 pressure miscalculation doomed 6 Soviet missions
2028 DAVINCI+ Mission: Humanity's next attempt to probe Venus' acidic atmosphere
💡 Why Watch Now? As ESA/NASA prepare new Venus missions, discover why scientists call this "Earth's evil twin" - a warning of runaway greenhouse effects written in 96.5% CO2 skies and 465°C temperatures.
3D simulations of the solar system's largest rift valley (2100km Artemis Chasma)
"Buckle up for a journey through acid clouds and lead-melting vistas - where every discovery challenges our understanding of life itself." - Star Weaver
🔔 Subscribe to Cosmic Canvas for universe-altering revelations every Friday!
00:00This star you're seeing now, I bet 99% of you recognize it.
00:04That's right. It's the Morning Star, also called Venus.
00:09It's the closest planet to Earth, like Earth's twin brother.
00:12Their size, mass, and composition are almost identical.
00:16Since it usually appears in the morning, and apart from the sun and moon,
00:20it's the brightest thing in the sky, seeing it means a beautiful day is about to begin.
00:26That's why people affectionately call it the Morning Star.
00:30Actually, the Morning Star doesn't just appear at dawn, you can see it in the evening too.
00:36But I have to tell you guys, the Morning Star isn't as lovely as Earth.
00:41Its cloud tops float with toxic sulfuric acid mist,
00:46surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead into shining streams,
00:50atmospheric pressure that could instantly crush most submarines on Earth,
00:55Earth. Latest satellite photos show thousands of volcanoes actively erupting on Venus's surface.
01:01The largest, Mott Mons, would create 3-meter-high lava flows if placed in North America.
01:07What makes Earth's twin brother so drastically different from our home planet?
01:12This episode, we're diving deep into Venus together.
01:16Get your snacks and drinks ready. We're about to flip some perspectives. Let's go.
01:20The earliest human records of Venus trace back to the Sumerians in 1600 BC.
01:27They not only noticed Venus, but accurately calculated its 8-year, 5-cycle orbital pattern.
01:33This was 3,000 years before the telescope was invented.
01:37Ancient records also appeared in similar periods.
01:40Remarkably, ancient observers used only naked eyes to measure Venus's phase changes.
01:47Those observations written on bamboo strips are so accurate that when scientists simulate them with computers today,
01:53the error is less than 3 days.
01:56When the Mawangdui Han tomb was excavated, they found the five planets divination text.
02:03On 2,000-year-old silk, it recorded Venus's synodic period as 584.4 days.
02:11That's only 0.48 days off from modern calculations.
02:15In modern times, humans have launched at least 46 probes to Venus.
02:20About half actually completed their mission successfully.
02:24Here's some key information I've compiled about these probes.
02:28Initially, scientists thought Venus, being so close to Earth, should be perfect for life.
02:33But on December 14, 1962, Mariner 2 completed a 109-day flight and successfully flew past Venus.
02:42Its infrared radiometer measured Venus's surface reaching up to 465 degrees Celsius.
02:48This discovery completely shattered scientists' previous assumptions that Venus might be a mild, moist planet suitable for life.
02:58Venus has an extremely dense atmosphere, mainly carbon dioxide, at 96.5%.
03:04This is one of the main reasons for Venus's extreme surface temperatures.
03:08The atmosphere contains thick cloud layers.
03:11But these aren't made of water vapor.
03:13Mariner 2 wasn't sure what they were made of at the time.
03:16Later probes discovered the clouds are mainly sulfuric acid.
03:21Mariner 2's microwave radiometer showed Venus's atmospheric pressure was about 20 times Earth's.
03:27This wrong 20 times pressure data led the Soviets to miscalculate Venus's conditions.
03:32They launched six probes to Venus in succession, all ending in failure.
03:37Mariner 2 also found Venus has virtually no magnetic field, less than 1 ten-thousandth of Earth's strength.
03:44This suggests Venus's internal structure is completely different from Earth's.
03:49It probably doesn't have a liquid metallic core like Earth, or its rotation is too slow to generate an effective dynamo effect.
03:57Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate once, the slowest rotation in the solar system.
04:03It's also the only planet that rotates backwards, from east to west.
04:08So if you stood on Venus, you'd see the Sun rise in the west and set in the east.
04:14Venus orbits the Sun in about 225 Earth days.
04:18Remember how long one Venus day takes?
04:20Right?
04:22243 Earth days.
04:24That means on Venus, a day is longer than a year.
04:27This makes Venus the only planet in the solar system where the rotation period exceeds the orbital period.
04:34Mariner 2 also confirmed that solar wind exists continuously, laying groundwork for future solar sail research.
04:42After completing most of its mission, Mariner 2 suddenly lost contact with Earth.
04:47This was probably a common problem for probes of that era.
04:50They'd just lose contact unexpectedly.
04:53Like the Soviet Venera 1, which planned to fly by Venus but lost contact before reaching its destination.
05:00Earlier we mentioned the Soviets launched six consecutive Venus missions that mostly failed.
05:06Finally, on August 17, 1970, the Soviets got Venera 7 to Venus after just four months of flight.
05:13Venera 7 successfully landed on Venus's surface, the first human-made object to land on another planet's surface.
05:20Thanks to previous probe data, Venera 7 could withstand 180 atmospheres of pressure and 500 degrees Celsius temperatures.
05:30Even so, Venera 7 only worked for 23 minutes.
05:34It measured Venus's actual surface temperature between 455 degrees Celsius and 495 degrees Celsius.
05:42Atmospheric pressure was 9,000 kilopascals, that's 90 atmospheres, equivalent to pressure 900 meters deep in Earth's oceans.
05:52This discovery corrected NASA's Mariner 2 error of 20 atmospheres and explained why previous probes couldn't survive long.
06:01Since they'd found the problem, the Soviets launched Venera 9 and Venera 10 in June 1975.
06:08They landed in two different regions of Venus.
06:12Venera 9 survived only 53 minutes before losing contact.
06:17Its 360-degree panoramic camera had only one working unit, so the photos showed just 180 degrees.
06:24But the images were quite clear.
06:26Looked a bit like Earth's desert landscapes.
06:28Venera 9 measured surface temperature at 485, plus or minus 15 degrees Celsius, atmospheric pressure at 90 atmospheres.
06:39Light intensity was like an overcast day on Earth, with wind speeds of 0.4 to 0.7 meters per second.
06:47The photo you're seeing now was taken by Venera 10.
06:51Venera 10 landed in a gentler area.
06:53From the photo, it doesn't look too different from Earth.
06:56Venera 10 measured surface temperature at 465 degrees Celsius, lower than Venera 9.
07:03This showed temperature variations exist across Venus.
07:07Soil and rock measurements found rock density of about 2.8 grams per cubic centimeter.
07:13Very similar to Earth's basalt, so scientists once thought Venus and Earth were truly twin planets.
07:19On October 30, 1981, the Soviets launched Venera 13 to Venus.
07:24This probe endured 90 atmospheres and nearly 500 degrees Celsius temperatures, surviving a record-breaking 127 minutes.
07:34For the 1980s, Soviet technology was truly impressive.
07:38Venera 13 had a drilling device and X-ray fluorescent spectrometer.
07:43It successfully drilled 3 to 5 centimeters and collected samples for on-site analysis.
07:48Results showed Venus' surface rocks were similar to Earth's basalt, with high concentrations of potassium, uranium, and thorium.
07:57This discovery confirmed the geological similarity between Venus and Earth, again supporting the theory that both planets might have similar origins.
08:06Interestingly, Soviet scientists installed a microphone on Venera 13, but the microphone broke, so they installed another one on Venera 14 a month later.
08:17That one successfully recorded Venus' sounds.
08:21Venera 13 also sent back the first color photos.
08:25You can listen carefully to these sounds from Venus.
08:28NASA launched the Magellan probe to Venus on May 4, 1989.
08:56This was humanity's first comprehensive, detailed mapping of Venus, completely changing our understanding of the planet.
09:04Magellan carried a synthetic aperture radar system, advanced technology that could penetrate Venus' thick cloud layers.
09:12Unlike ordinary optical cameras, radar can see through clouds to map detailed surface topography.
09:18Magellan's radar resolution reached 75 meters, meaning it could identify objects the size of a medium building on Venus' surface.
09:26The probe also had altimeters and radiometers to measure surface height variations and thermal radiation characteristics.
09:33These instruments worked together, giving scientists unprecedented detailed views of Venus' surface.
09:40Magellan mapped 98% of Venus' surface at much higher resolution than any previous probe.
09:46These detailed maps revealed many amazing discoveries.
09:49Magellan found over 1,600 volcanoes on Venus' surface, far exceeding previous estimates.
10:04Probe data suggests many of Venus' volcanoes might still be active.
10:08This contradicted previous beliefs that Venus' geological activity had stopped.
10:12Unlike the Moon and Mercury, Venus has relatively few impact craters, and most are well-preserved.
10:20This indicates Venus' surface is relatively young, possibly experiencing global volcanic activity in the past 500 to 800 million years that covered early impact traces.
10:32Magellan discovered Venus has massive rift valley networks.
10:35The largest, Artemis Chasma, stretches 2,100 kilometers long and 300 kilometers wide, one of the largest rift valleys in the solar system.
10:47Magellan's data shows about 80% of Venus' surface is covered by lava flows.
10:52Some of these flows extend hundreds of kilometers.
10:56These discoveries confirmed Venus experienced massive volcanic eruptions, possibly a key factor in creating its extreme environment.
11:03Five years later, Magellan completed its mission.
11:08Scientists guided it to crash on Venus' surface.
11:11It was the first probe to perfectly complete its Venus exploration mission.
11:16In September 2020, scientists detected phosphine in Venus' cloud layers.
11:22This discovery excited scientists because, on Earth, phosphine comes mainly from two sources,
11:28human agriculture and industry, or microbial production.
11:32So scientists see it as a potential sign of biological activity.
11:37This research was discovered by a British professor's team.
11:41First, they used telescopes to observe Venus and unexpectedly found phosphine's spectral signature.
11:48To confirm this discovery, the team conducted higher-resolution observations and, again, detected phosphine.
11:55Both independent observations showed about 20 parts per billion of phosphine at 53 to 61 kilometers altitude in Venus' clouds.
12:05This region happens to be where Venus' atmospheric temperature and pressure most closely match Earth's surface conditions.
12:12Temperature around 30 to 60 degrees Celsius, pressure about 50 to 100 percent of Earth's surface pressure.
12:19Based on these findings, scientists began suspecting that somewhere on Venus, certain anaerobic microbes might exist.
12:28They could produce phosphine in oxygen-free environments.
12:31According to existing chemical models, non-biological processes produce far less phosphine than observed concentrations.
12:39Even more surprising, Venus' highly oxidizing cloud environment should rapidly decompose phosphine.
12:47This means something must continuously produce phosphine to maintain observed concentrations.
12:54But until now, scientists have no definitive evidence to prove this.
12:58The U.S. announced two new Venus missions, DaVinci Plus and Veritas, planned for launch between 2028 and 2030.
13:13DaVinci Plus will directly probe Venus' atmospheric composition, hopefully confirming phosphine's presence and searching for other bio-signatures.
13:22The European Space Agency, India, Russia and private space companies, have all announced their own Venus exploration plans.
13:31If this discovery is confirmed, the habitable zone range will be greatly expanded.
13:37This is Cosmic Canvas. I'm Starweaver.
13:40If you love space exploration and unsolved mysteries too, please hit that like and subscribe button.
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