))
Three Venuses
Archived series ("HTTP Redirect" status)
Replaced by: StarDate Premium Audio
When?
This feed was archived on April 20, 2017 14:46 (
Why? HTTP Redirect status. The feed permanently redirected to another series.
What now? If you were subscribed to this series when it was replaced, you will now be subscribed to the replacement series. This series will no longer be checked for updates. If you believe this to be in error, please check if the publisher's feed link below is valid and contact support to request the feed be restored or if you have any other concerns about this.
Manage episode 177458705 series 1424224
Content provided by McDonald Observatory. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by McDonald Observatory or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Venus is just beginning its long reign as the “morning star.” It’s quite low in the east as dawn begins to color the sky. It’s so bright, though, that if you have a clear horizon, it’s easy to pick out. It’ll remain in good view in the morning sky until after Thanksgiving.
Despite its beauty, Venus is a hellish world. Surface temperatures are hot enough to melt lead, and the atmosphere is dense and toxic. There’s nothing else like it in the solar system. But Venus-like worlds may be common in other star systems. In fact, a recent study found a system that could have two Venuses.
Wolf 1061 is just 14 light-years away — closer than all but a few dozen other stars. Yet it’s only one percent as bright as the Sun — so faint that you need a telescope to see it.
Three planets are known to orbit the star. All three probably are rocky worlds a bit bigger and heavier than Venus and Earth. One of them is so close to the star that it’s almost certainly like Venus. Another follows an orbit that’s so stretched out that the planet is quite hot for part of its year, and quite cold for the rest.
A third planet appears to spend about two-thirds of its year inside the habitable zone — the distance from the star where temperatures are just right for liquid water. But it spends the rest of the time closer than the habitable zone, where it’s hot. That may trigger conditions like those on Venus — keeping all three worlds of Wolf 1061 too uncomfortable for life.
Script by Damond Benningfield
28 episodes
Share
