Venus suddenly turned slower

The day on Venus has become longer in recent years because of its reduced rotation speed.

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AFP said, astronomers of the Paris Observatory in France analyzed data from a spectrometer on Venus Express, the European Union's spacecraft. This spectrometer measures visible light and infrared light. So it is used to monitor the surface of Venus, the planet is covered by a dense atmosphere.

The team compared the special positions on the surface of Venus today with the observed results of Venus made by the US ship Magellan between 1990 and 1994.

Illustration of Venus Express and Venus.

The results show that, at any given time, the surface highlights of Venus today are 20 km away from their previous positions. The team observed many times, but the results remained unchanged.

'After eliminating the possibilities of making mistakes, we believe that Venus's day has been longer than the last 16 years , ' the team said in Icarus magazine.

The team calculates that Mercury's day increases by 6 and a half minutes. One day Venus is equivalent to 243 days on earth.

'If we look at the universe, it's a big change , ' said Pierre Drossart, an astronomer in the research team.

Astronomers believe that the process of rubbing between the atmosphere and the surface of Venus makes the motion of the surface become slower. This is an unbelievable phenomenon on earth, but it is very normal for Venus. The Venusian atmosphere, with a thickness of up to 100km, contains very dense clouds (CO ₂ accounts for 96% of the cloud composition). Clouds on Venus suffer from winds of up to 350 km / h.

The atmospheric pressure on Venus's surface is 92 times that of the globe - which is equivalent to pressure at a depth of 900 m under the sea.

'The braking effect that air causes also occurs on the globe, but the speed of the Earth's rotation is only a few milliseconds so humans cannot recognize it , ' Drossart said.

So someday the speed of Venus will fall to the point that it stops spinning or reversing?

'It is very difficult to predict, but theoretical models show that it is possible that the reduction of Venus's rotation speed is only a cyclical phenomenon. If the movement speed of the atmosphere increases, the planet will rotate more slowly. The atmosphere then moves slower and the speed of Venus's rotation increases , "Drossart commented.