Seasons on Venus

[Leovinus]

It depends on who you talk to.<br /><br />One web site I visited said Venus had no seasons because its axis is tilted only 3 degrees.<br /><br />Another web site I visted said that since a Venusian day lasts 1/2 of a Venusian year, the two seasons are "Daytime" and "Nighttime" each lasting half the year.<br /><br />What do you think is the right answer? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mooware]

If you have a coin we can flip on it. I Choose Tails, no seasons.<br /><br />

 

[bobvanx]

Oh gosh Leo, you've got to define "seasons!"<br /><br />Cyclical climate disturbance due to axial tilt? Or any cyclical climate phenomena? (hurricane season, Cicada season, earthquake season, etc).<br /><br />Venus' day and year are effectively the same length, regardless of whether a website says otherwise. But it does have a slightly eccentric orbit, so the overall twilight gloom might be a few percent brighter some of the day.<br /><br />I bet, however, that there's so much thermal inertia that the temp doesn't shift.<br /><br />So I'd bet no. No season.

 

[Aetius]

Today's AccuWeather Venus Forecast: HOT! HOT! HOT! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[titanian]

I would say that Titan has roughly no seasons because its obliquity is small, its orbit around the Sun is less elliptical than that of our Planet, the atmospheric circulation is rather static ( weak winds ), the greenhouse effect is largely higher than on Earth ( temperatures don't vary very much from the day to the night.<br />On that point, does anyone know where the coldest place on Venus is?<br /><br />www.titanexploration.com

 

[titanian]

You will have corrected, I wrote Titan instead of Venus.You won't correct me if I say that the weather conditions on those objects are radically different.

 

[bobvanx]

Surely, that's just at the equator. North or south, it'd flatten, then scoot along the horizon as a long, thin line and then reform and rise.

 

[silylene old]

<i>The first one. "Daytime" and "nighttime" mean little on Venus. The atmosphere is so dense that temperatures vary little. Curiously, neither does light levels. From what I've read, light is refracted from the day side the night side. Were an observer on the surface able to see the sun through the clouds, it would never really set as the planet slowly rotated. It would approach the horizon, growing flatter and more oblong, until it eventually squashed down into a thin line that would run all the way around the sky, reforming on the opposide side and slowing rising into a ball again. Bizarre! <br /></i><br /><br />Ignoring this.....<br /><br />With only a 3 degree axial tilt, the "Venusian arctic circle" (and antarctic circle) would encompass a very small surface area. The northern polar areas within the circle (during "winter") would observe a period in which the sun doesn't rise above the horizon (albeit VERY slowly rising given the slow rotation rate). This could extend the length of nighttime in the northern polar region, and daytime in the southern polar region. And vice versa.<br /><br /><br />Of course the Venusian arctic and antarctic day/nights would be hard to enjoy unless the atmosphere was much thinner, and the clouds less enveloping. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

This is a really neat thread. I just had to say that. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> I never really thought about what seasons might be like on Venus, and it's fascinating.<br /><br />So do carry on, everybody. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[yurkin]

There are two seasons.<br /><br />There is the rainy season that lasts for seven years straight.<br />Then there’s summer. But summer only lasts for a day. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br />

 

[nexium]

Crazyeddie is likely correct . The atmosphere behaves like a distortred lens bringing dim light contineously to all parts of Venus even the North and South Pole. There would however be changes in color temperature and brightness as the path though the atmosphere would be up to 12,000 miles long, but only 100 miles long when the sun was overhead. The decade low for Venus is likely about 500 degrees c (near the poles)and the decade high about 600 degrees c (near the Equator) (-140f to +140f for planet Earth) so the thick atmosphere definately moderates the temperature. Annual, daily, and seasonal changes are likely small, everywhere, but not zero. Neil

 

[Saiph]

IIRC the temperature on venus is basically 900 degrees, regardless of latitude, or on the day or night side, due to extremely efficient temperature distribution of the atmosphere.<br /><br />Then again, I could be full of it up to my eyes (they're brown you know).<br /><br />If it is, seasons basically don't exist. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[nexium]

Hi Saiph: Thanks for the correction. I should have typed degrees c or 850 to 900 degrees f, perhaps 900 to 950 f. Neil

 

[juwong]

HOT HOT HOT<br />then nothing else...<br />if you'd like to see,<br />take off, off, off...<br />nothing is on,<br />but still HoT!

 

[iron_sun_254]

I'm sure the ground is glowing as well... It never gets dark on Venus.