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Scientists baffled to discover that Venus’ spin is slowing down

March 22, 2012 Comments off

mnn.com

Why is Venus rotating 6.5 minutes slower than it was just 16 years ago?

Venus underneath its clouds Photo: Forsetius/Flickr
Scientists mapping Venus‘s surface with the European Space Agency’s Venus Express orbiter recently received a shock when features on the planet’s surface appeared to have moved up to 12.4 miles from where they were expected to be, reports National Geographic.
 
The measurements, if correct, would seem to indicate that Venus’ rotation has slowed by 6.5 minutes — a dramatic decrease on a planetary level — compared to when it was last measured just 16 years ago.
 
That last measurement was taken during NASA’s Magellan mission in the 1990s, when a single rotation of Venus was Read more…
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1/6/2012 — Planet Venus has been HIT by a massive object?! On December 27, 2011

January 6, 2012 5 comments

If you can recall as many mainstream news articles have reported about it, Venus has been unusually bright during that time span…

view this on the SECCHI-B HI-1: what looks like a large impact on the planet Venus. Just as comet Lovejoy passes nearby. The SECCHI website was “out of service” for the past several days — now I think I may understand why.

A possibly large planetary collision occurred.

search the dates starting on 12/24/2011 – through today 1/6/2012 (several recent days not yet available).

here is the link to the blog post on this with screenshots and the direct link to SECCHI:

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/162012-planet-venus-has-been-hit-b… Read more…

Categories: astronomy Tags: , , , ,