Venus is the most noticeable and bright inhabitant of the earthly sky after the sun and the moon. Sometimes it can be observed with the naked eye even during the daytime.

On the distant star Venus // Sun of Flamen and Golden, // on Venus, Ah, on Venus // The trees have blue leaves. (Nikolai Gumilev)

The distance between the Venus and the Sun is approximately 72% of the astronomical unit, the length of the large semi-axes of the earth orbit. Being an inner planet, Venus is never approaching Zenith. Her elongation, the maximum elevation above the horizon is about 48 degrees. A full revolution around Venus Sun makes without small for 225 terrestrial day.

Since Venus appeals between the Earth and the Sun, she, like Mercury, changes his appearance from thin singing to the full disk. People with very good eyesight can distinguish between the Venus phases even with a simple eye, and they are superbly visible even in the most weak telescopes. Therefore, they do not have to be surprised that in October 1610, they were observed by Galilee. However, he did not doubt that it would detect them, since the presence of phases from any inner planet unambiguously follows from Copernicus theory.

Plansometric map of Venus, compiled in the State Astronomical Institute. Sternberga MSU according to the data obtained by the American spacecraft Magellan.

The passage of Venus on the Sun disk in 1761 made it possible to make the first truly nontrivial contribution to our knowledge about this planet. Watching his Lomonosov noticed that when the Venusian disk left Sunny, there was a brightly glowing release on the edge of the latter and immediately disappeared (Lomonosov called him a poultry). Mikhail Vasilyevich quite correctly explained this phenomenon by the presence of the "noble air atmosphere" in Venus, refracting the sun's rays. European astronomers ignored this discovery until at the end of the XVIII century did not confirm his discoverer of Uranus William Herschel and an astronomer of the amateur from Bremen Johann Schreter.

The position when the projection of Venus on the plane of the earth orbit falls on the line connecting the land and the sun is called a compound. Venus is in the upper connection when the sun turns out between it and the Earth, and in the lower, when it itself is inclined between them. In the lower compound, the distance between the planets is reduced to 42 million kilometers, and in the upper it increases to 258 million. The interval between the sequential upper and lower connections is called the synodic period of Venus. On average, it is equal to 584 Earth days, although deviations in one direction or another reach hundreds of hours.

Unlike the Earth, Venus does not have mobile lithospheric plates floating on a viscous mantle. The earth bark due to their movements is updated every hundred million years, and Venusian, apparently, did not change in five longer. However, this does not mean that it is stable. From the depths of Venus are heat flows, which gradually heat the bark and soften its substance. Therefore, the bark periodically becomes plastic and deformed, which causes global relief changes. The duration of such cycles, apparently, is at least half a billion years. We also know very little about the inner structure of Venus. You can study it only with the help of seismic methods, and this requires the creation of long-lived - not minutes and hours, and the days and weeks! - descended devices. By analogy with the Earth it is believed that the planet consists of a basalitic bark with a thickness of several tens of kilometers, a silicate mantle and an iron core with a radius of less than 3000 km.

Observations from the Earth

Telescopic observations have always been given so fuzzy pictures of the surface of Venus that any attempts to determine with their help the duration of the day of this planet was never crowned with success (for the same reason, Venus's cartography became possible only after it appeared artificial satellites with radar equipment, although she had Something managed to make both terrestrial radio telescopes).

And such attempts were made almost all astronomers interested in this planet. The first of them was the great Giovanni Cassini, who studied Venus even before moving to Paris in his observatory in Bologna. In 1667, he announced that the Venusian Day was almost equal to the earth - 23 hours 21 minutes. Over the next 300 years, the telescopy astronomers made more than a hundred such estimates - alas, erroneous.

The first color pictures of Venus, obtained by the instrument of the descent apparatus of the Soviet interplanetary station Venus-13.

The case was helped by the radar of Venus, and not immediately. The first experiments of this kind were carried out in the United States (1958) and the United Kingdom (1959) - but without much success. In May 1961, Soviet newspapers reported that a group of employees of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Academician of the Kotelnik with the help of an interplanetary radar found that Venus makes one turn around its axis about 11 days. Like many others, this estimate turned out to be extremely understated. Only a year later, Radiophysics from the California Institute of Technology Goldstin and Carpenter received an almost right amount of 240 terrestrial day. In subsequent years, she was repeatedly clarified, and now the duration of the Venusian days is considered to be equal to 243 Earth (so the day of Venus is longer than her year!). At the same time it was found that Venus turns around its axis not from the west to the East, like the Earth, but from the east to the west. If you look at the North Pole of the Sun, it turns out that Venus rotates clockwise, and not against it, like the Earth and the rest of the planets (with the exception of uranium, in which the axis of its own rotation is almost parallel to the orbital plane). Since Venus, like all the planets, draws around the sun counterclockwise, its orbital and axial angular velocities are opposite to the sign. Such a movement is called retrograde.

In the high layers of the Venusian atmosphere, over the gas flows circulating in the "super farming" mode, another circulation is observed. The flow of solar UV radiation on the day side "breaks" the carbon dioxide molecules, releaseing atomic oxygen, which is transported by the so-called "solar" threads in a thermosphere on the night side of the planet. There, atomic oxygen descends below, in the mesosphere, where it recombines into the molecular, radiating at a wavelength of 1.27 μm. The picture is made up of two parts captured by the Virtis spectrometer (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) on board the Venus Express European satellite.

Venus atmosphere

The first information about the composition of the Venusian air was obtained exactly for a quarter of a century before the start of the space era. In 1932, American astronomers Walter Sydney Adams and Theodore Daem took advantage of this purpose a spectrograph established on the world's largest 250-centimeter telescope Mount Wilson. They convincingly proved that the gas environment of Venus mainly consists of carbon dioxide. The degree of heating the upper layer of venerana clouds was first measured even earlier, and on the same telescope. Edison Netteith and Seth Nicholson with the help of bolometers found out that its temperature ranges between 33-38 ° C. These dimensions were accurate to surprise, and in the future their accuracy was repeatedly confirmed.

Other data were already obtained from spacecraft. Now we know that the Venusian air is 96.5% consists of carbon dioxide and by 3.5% from nitrogen. The remaining components (sulfur dioxide, argon, water pairs, carbon monoxide, helium, which recently discovered by Venus Express probe hydroxyl groups) are present only in small quantities. Nevertheless, the atmospheric sulfur is quite enough to form clouds covering the planet consisting of sulfur dioxide and aerosol sulfuric acid.

The lower layer of the Venusian atmosphere is almost immobile, but in the troposphere, the wind speed exceeds 100 m / s. These storms merge into a single hurricane stream that envelopes the planet for four terresth day. It moves towards her rotation (from east to west) and transfers dense clouds that circulate around the planet at the same speed (this phenomenon is called super protrusion).

The radar shooting carried out by the Magellan apparatus showed that the planet is replete with volcanoes (not clearly acting or not). On the left - 400-km Mountain Shapash is 1.5 km high, on the right - volcanic "TIK" in the region of alpha with a diameter of 30 km with radial structures derived from it. In the picture on the left - the European station Venus Express in the Orbit of Venus.

Waiting and disappointment

Until the middle of the 20th century, very large expectations were associated with Venus. Before the start of space research, this planet, scientists hoped to find natural conditions on it, very close to earthly, or, more precisely, to those that the land took place in the process of their evolution. For this there were undoubted grounds. Both planets are similar in many criteria.

Their sizes almost coincide - the equatorial radius of Venus is 6051.8, the Earth is 6378.1 km. The difference between the polar radii and is less than 6051.8 and 6356.8 km (Venus is almost the perfect ball, while our planet is somewhat fightened by the poles). The average density of the Venusian substance is 95% of the density of the earth (5234 and 5515 kg / m3). Acceleration of free fall on the surface of Venus is 8.87 m / s 2, only 10% less terrestrial. And Venus and the Earth turn around the Sun in almost the right circles lying in almost one plane, the eccentricity of their orbits are equal to 0.0067 and 0.0167. Moreover, these are the only solid octopic planets with a dense atmosphere. Venus in the space scale of the distance is located next to the Earth, although, as further studies have shown, this difference in the distance from the Sun turned out to be fatal. It was possible to assume that in their age Venus and the Earth are quite close, and therefore, and evolved similarly. In popular science journals, Venus is a kind of coal period in its evolution, which is covered with oceans and is full of exotic vegetation. But from the late 1950s, these ideas began to change. With the help of radio telescopes, astronomers measured the so-called brightness temperature of Venus, and it turned out to be significantly higher than expected - for hundreds of degrees. Unlike other planets of the earth group - Mars and Mercury, the surface of Venus is shrouded with a dense cloud layer. Therefore, it was not clear what exactly the source of such a high temperature. Several models appeared, some of them associated this temperature with the surface under the clouds, others explained it with the properties of the ionosphere. Two of these alternative points of view greatly heated interest in research of Venus. Everything turned out in 1962, when American Mariner 2 from a distance of 35,000 km measured the brightness temperature of Venus (more than 400 ° C) and found the so-called darkening to the edge of the planet's disk (due to the larger the thickness of the atmosphere along the edges). And this meant that most likely the temperature is associated with the surface of the planet.

The main data on the surface of Venus is obtained by the Magellan apparatus from 1990 to 1994. This made it possible to create a map of the planet and make some assumptions about its internal structure and evolution. Previously, the northern hemisphere of the planet was filmed by Soviet stations "Venus-15" and "Venus-16".

The first cosmic swallows

Actually, almost all information about the atmosphere, the surface and the internal device of Venus was obtained using spacecraft. The first two attempts to study Venus took the Soviet Union, and even before the flight Yuri Gagarin. On February 4, 1961, a 645-kilogram Venusian probe went to Cosmos, landed for an almost six-path orbital platform. Tandem went to the near-earth orbit, from where the probe was supposed to go to Venus and crash into her surface. However, the probe engines did not work, and on February 26, he burned down in the earth's atmosphere along with the platform. And on February 12, the venera-1 automatic station was launched from Tyutrama. In all likelihood, in May 1962, it passed in a hundred thousand kilometers from the planet-goal and turned into a man-made satellite of the sun. However, the connection with her disappeared a week after launch, when the station was distanced to 1.5 million kilometers. In the summer of 1962, two more unsuccessful launches, American and Soviet followed. The fifth apparatus was American Mariner 2, the one who buried the hypothesis about the Venusian seas.

In the early 1960s, all space programs, including lunar-planetary studies, were engaged in OKB-1 under the leadership of Sergey Pavlovich Queen. But the first launches of automatic interplanetary stations were not crowned with success: experience in the design of spacecraft was too small. In 1965, Venus-2 was launched, a spaniver, and Venena-3, an atmospheric probe, which was to be "stuck" into the surface of the planet. The devices flew towards the sun, the intensity of solar irradiation grew as they approach the target, and during the flight the electronics fell out. The devices reached Venus, but no data was passed. Nevertheless, this fact itself was very significant - it was necessary to accurately accurately calculate the trajectory so that the device makes Randevo with the planet.

The upper limit of the air layer of Venus lies at an altitude of only 250 km. The pressure of the surface of the planet is 92 atm - as at sea depths of 910 m. Carbon dioxide and water vapor create a strongest greenhouse effect, due to which the surface is heated to 467 ° C, despite the fact that sulfur clouds reflect the sunlight. With this combination of temperature and pressure and carbon dioxide, and nitrogen is in a state of supercritical fluid. Therefore, strictly speaking, the gas at the surface of Venus is not at all.

In 1965, it was decided to divide space programs in the direction. Korolev continued to engage in piloted programs - orbital and lunar, and the unmanned lunar-planetary topics on the initiative of Keldysh and the Queen was transferred to them. S.A. Lavochka, who at that time was headed by Georgy Nikolaevich Babakin. All technical documentation transmitted from OKB-1 has undergone a strictest audit, lack of defects were found, a number of systems were recycled. The results did not make it wait - the first launch in the framework of the E6 lunar program, produced in mid-1966, led to the success of "Luna-9", with a soft landing, with revealed petals, with a very original idea to shift the center of gravity for greater stability (apparatus called "Vanka-stand"). The first panoramas of the moon were obtained, the mechanical properties of the soil were studied, then the first artificial satellite of the moon was launched - "Moon-10", and the whole series of successful launches was followed.

Under the clouds

However, scientists were wondering not only the moon, but also Venus. But then there was a problem. If the temperature could be done at least some assumptions on previously received data, it was impossible to make any conclusions about the pressure. The range of possible pressure values \u200b\u200bon different estimates ranged from 0.5 atm to several hundred, the depth of the atmosphere was unknown. Babakin has long discussed this issue with Keldysh and the leadership of the Institute of Space Research (ICI). In the end, Babakin adopted a volitional design solution: "We will count the descended device for 15 atm!" On October 18, 1967, the descent apparatus of Vena-4 station began a parachute descent. Immediately after the disclosure of the antenna, the radio personhomer issued a mark of 26 km (then it turned out that the real height at this point was about 60 km). During a parachute descent, the device performed pressure and temperature of the atmosphere, and also analyzed its composition. When the pressure of 18 atm and a temperature of 260 ° C, the device was crushed, which was erroneously interpreted as a landing torque (the real height was about 28 km). The error of the radio sometomer quickly turned out, it was very annoying, but this mission made it possible to estimate the temperature and pressure on the surface - about 100 atm and 450 ° C. The chemical composition of the atmosphere was clarified.

Atmospheric probes "Venus-5" and "Venus-6", designed for pressure of 25 atm, in 1969 confirmed and clarified data on the composition and parameters of the Venusian atmosphere. Based on this data, the following station was designed - "Venus-7". Despite the fact that when landing, the telemetry switch refused, and the parachute system worked in non-standard mode, the device first made a soft landing on the night side of the planet and for the first time passed the exact pressure on pressure and temperature on the surface. And in 1972, after the death of Babakin, Venus-8 was launched. All systems worked absolutely immaculately. The device made a soft landing on the surface of the planet, and for the first time on the day side, near the terminator. For the first time, data on the nature of surface rocks became known, and it was a very large achievement. Venus-8 also measured the illumination for the first time: it turned out that even the daytime of the planet reigns twilight due to the scattering of sunlight in the clouds and a dense atmosphere.

Twenty years of soft landing

In 1975, two next-generation apparatus were launched - Venus-9 and Venus-10. Each station consisted of an orbital module and a descent apparatus, which were expanded compared to previous missions, a complex of scientific instruments. The orbital modules have become the first venera artificial satellites, and the descent devices made a soft landing and the panoramas of the surface of the planet were transferred for the first time, which, along with the measurement of the content of natural radioactive elements, made it possible to conclude about the type of surface rocks and obtain some ideas about the evolution of the planet. Studies of the cloud layer were also conducted (the device was descended through this layer on parachutes, which were then uncovered to accelerate the descent and reduce the heating of the apparatus) and the absorption spectra of the atmosphere. It turned out that the red and orange bands reach the surface, so the Venusian Day is actually an orange twilight.

In 1978, the descent apparatus "Venus-11" and Venus-12, who studied, including the electrical activity of the atmosphere, were landing, were landing, and in 1982, Venus-13 and Venen-14 were transferred first color pictures surface of the planet. For the first time, data were obtained on the elemental composition of surface rocks, which demanded an exceptionally complex experiment - it was necessary to reduce pressure and temperature and only after that it was used to the measuring shelf (for this, the devices were equipped with a special gateway). The descent apparatus "Venus-13" worked on the surface of 127 minutes, although it was calculated only on 32. And this is in temperatures above 450 ° C and pressures of about 90 atm! In the same 1978, two American stations were launched - orbital Pioneer Venus, which began radar mapping of the planet, and Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, which "shot" four atmospheric probes for analyzing the composition and parameters of the atmosphere.

Venus has a completely lack of a planetary magnetic field of deep origin, and its entire extremely weak magnetism is generated by the interaction between the ionosphere and the solar wind.

"Venus-15" and "Venus-16" In 1983, with the help of radar, the Northern Hemisphere of the Planet was mapped with the orbit, which made it possible to estimate the structure (morphology) of the surface. Later, the American satellite Magellan, launched in 1989, for several years spent global mapping of the planet. Finally, the Soviet Venusian Space Program in 1985 completed two seating spacecraft "Vega-1" and "Vega-2" with a similar scientific burden. Aerostats with scientific devices were also launched from them, drifting in the atmosphere of Venus at an altitude of 50-60 km.

Venus became the real pride of the Soviet planet program. Most of the data on this planet were obtained precisely with the help of Soviet interplanetary stations, and these data are unique. Designers very seriously approached the development of landing modules that were able to continue working in such extreme conditions throughout the time required to perform the scientific task.

Total for 45 years - from 1961 to 2005 - 37 attempts were undertaken to send spacecraft to Venus. 19 of them turned out to be successful, 18 - unsuccessful. Another six automatic stations - American Mariner 10, Galileo, Cassini and Messenger - one or a couple times passed by Venus on the way to their goals (respectively, to Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and again to Mercury) and a lot of valuable information was transferred to Earth.

The political incorrectness of the past centuries is clearly manifested in the names of the planets, walking around the earthly sky. Almost all of them are the names of the gods of the Roman Pantheon. Only the second from the sun of the planet became the namesake of the goddess, which initially performed a very modest role in the sidelines. The symbol of beauty and love Venus turned later, when it (in a large extent on political reasons) was identified with Greek Aphrodite, the mother of the mythical founder of Rome Enai. True, a tradition appeared quite recently called the geographical structures of the Venusian surface with the names of real women and literary female characters (exceptions are only Maxwell's mountains and alpha and beta alpha plateau).

The last, 670-kilogram European ship Venus Express, on November 9, 2005, was brought into space by the Russian Rocket Complex "Soyuz-Frigate" from a cosmodrome in Tyratham. After 153 days of the road, he approached Venus and on May 6, 2006, he went to a stable polar orbit with a minimum removal from the planet of 250 km and a maximum of 66,000 km. From there he studies Venus and its atmosphere with the help of its tools (mainly different spectrometers). "Unfortunately, one of the tools, the planetary Fourier spectrometer refused," says Lyudmila Zabov, head of the planetary spectroscopy laboratory of planets and small bodies of the solar system of ICI wounds. - But its tasks partially overlaps the mapping spectrometer Virtis, and with the help of other Venus Express devices have already received many extremely interesting data on the atmosphere of the planet. Some things were for us a real surprise - for example, the presence of hydroxyl ions. But even a lot of riddles. For example, we still do not know which substance absorbs 50% of solar ultraviolet in the range of 0.32-0.45 μm at the heights of 58-68 km. "

What is inside and outside

Eighty percent of the Venusian surface make up flat and hilly plains of volcanic origin. Most of the residue falls on four gigantic mountain ranges - Earth Aphrodites, Earth Ishtar and already mentioned areas of Alpha and Beta. The main material of the surface is basalt lava. There were about thousands of shock crater with a diameter of three to three hundred kilometers. The lack of smaller crater is easily explained by the fact that meteorites capable of leaving them lose speed in the atmosphere or simply burn. Venus is replete with volcanoes, but it is not yet known whether active volcanic activities have ceased there, and this is fundamentally for understanding the evolution of the planet. In addition, despite the Magellan satellite data, scientists are still poorly imagine the geology of Venus. And geology is the key to understanding the internal structure and evolutionary processes.

Until the 1950s, in a special fashion, there was a hypothesis about the warm Venusian oceans, where it is full of not only aquatic plants, but also animals. Now, we know that even the most terrible deserts of the Earth compared to the anhydrous rocky Venusian Beckl look with fertile oases. No on Venus neither blue deciduous trees, nor even similar to earthly archaebacteria-extremals, which beat all records in terms of survival in an unfriendly environment. And the sun there is not golden gloves. On the contrary, its rays almost do not penetrate dense clouds from sulfur dioxide and aerosol sulfuric acid, circulating at an altitude of 45-70 km and reliably hiding the planet from earth telescopes. In short, hellish place.

Solid Venus core or liquid - until it is for sure. In any case, there are no circular flow of electrically conductive substance, since otherwise the planet would have a stable magnetic field of the earth. "The magnetic passivity of Venus has not yet found a generally accepted interpretation," the director of the department of earthly magnetism of the Washington Institute Carnegi Schoon Solomon explained "Popular Mechanics". - The presence of a magnetic field in the Earth is likely to be explained by the gradual clarification of the still liquid external core of our planet. This process releases heat energy providing convective nuclear substance movements that make it possible to occur a magnetic field. Obviously, it does not happen on Venus. Why - not yet clear. According to the most believable hypothesis, the Venusian core has not yet to high up and therefore convective jets are not born there, tightening thanks to the rotation of the planet and the generating magnetic field. Otherwise, such a field was still due to arise, although in magnitude it would be very impressed by the earthly, since Venus is much slower revolves around its axis. Theoretically, it can be assumed that the Venusian kernel has already managed to cool below the crystallization point of its substance. This is possible, but unlikely. To do this, it would have to assume that the core of Venus consists of almost pure iron and is practically devoid of light impurities that reduce the temperature of the phase transition. It is difficult to understand how Venus could acquire such a nucleus in the process of its formation. Therefore, the first hypothesis looks preferable. "

Why is Venus so hot? The main model of heating the surface of Venus is considered a greenhouse effect. Calculations show that when the Earth is moved by 10 million kilometers closer to the Sun, the greenhouse effect comes out of control and the irreversible heating begins. This is a very refinement equilibrium, and therefore climate specialists are concerned. So far, no one knows the limits of compensatory processes, which begins the action of positive feedback. There are models in which during the first tens of millions of years after its formation Venus was different - there were oceans, almost the same as on Earth. In particular, this is confirmed by the fact that the atmosphere of Venus is enriched with deuterium. "More accurate measurements of the isotopic composition of the atmosphere will make assumptions about why Venus went on another way than Earth and Mars," says Lyudmila Zabov. - Perhaps this will be able to find out the Russian mission of the Venus-D, which is scheduled to be launched after 2015. "The interplanetary station will consist of an orbital module that has a long-lived descendant apparatus and atmospheric aerotable probes.

Scientists lay on the following flights to Venus high hopes. In the meantime, this planet puts much more questions than the answers gives.

Quick Guide to search for bright planets in the sky

Very often beginners of astronomy lovers or simply interested asking us about one or another "very bright star" in the sky, as well as how to learn to recognize the planets in the sky.

Well, I am pleased to fulfill the request of our readers and today we will tell how to learn how to find the solar system planets. But we will only touch on the brightest of them, which are easily visible to the naked eye, namely, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

From the planets listed above the most bright are Venus and Jupiter. However, Mars competes from time to time (during the so-called. Great confrontations, the last of which was in August 2003, and the next will have to wait until July 2018).

We dare to declare that Jupiter and especially Venus saw every adult man. Venus is the bright yellow evening or morning "star", shining in the sky against the background of the evening or morning dawn. It is with questions about this bright luminaire most often come with letters of our readers. And it is not surprising, because the maximum gloss of Venus can reach -4.3m, and she herself is Third in brightness luminaries on the earth's sky after sun and moon.

Jupiter's gloss can reach -2.3m, which, together with a characteristic yellow color, also highlights it on the background of the starry sky. But Mars and Saturn can be confused with the most vivid stars, especially at the moments of their maximum removal from the Earth, when the first visible stellar value may be the order of the second star magnitude, and the second is the first.

Planet - Mercury, Mercury, is also bright in the earthly sky (its brilliance can reach -1.7M), but because of the proximity to the daily luminaries, he is constantly hiding in his bright rays, only sometimes removing from him on such an angular distance that allows you to recognize the planet against the background of the evening or morning dawn. For the search for Mercury, it is important to have some observation experience, but from southern latitudes Planet search in the sky during the maximum angular removal from the Sun (elongations) much easier. In moderate latitudes, the most favorable oriental elongations in the spring, when Mercury is clearly visible in the evenings in the West and in some periods it goes beyond the horizon already in the dark heaven; as well as the morning (Western) elongation in the fall. Then the planet is visible in the east to the predestal clock and sometimes goes back to the emergence of the first signs of dawn.

It is important to note that all the planets, like the moon, are moving on the earthly sky according to zodiac constellations. Everyone knows that such constellations are twelve. But there is both the thirteenth - a snakes, in which the sun is at the end of November - early December. It may also be bright planets. Therefore, you should not seek the planets, for example, in a big bear, Orion, Swan, Pegasus and other non-zodiac constellations.

It is also necessary to take into account the fact that planets are divided into two categories: domestic and external. Internal - these are the planets, the orbits of which lie inside the Earth orbit. This is Mercury and Venus. The external are the planets, the orbits of which are outside the Earth's orbit (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto). Therefore, the inner planets can be visible only in the evening or morning sky, and the external planets can be observed in periods close to confrontation throughout the night.

So, the best period of visibility of the internal planets are periods close to Eastern (Western) elongation, and external - confrontation. At moments confrontation, the angular distance between the planet and the sun is 180 °, so the planet can be observed throughout the night. It rises at sunset, cultures around midnight, and goes beyond the skyline at sunrise. During periods of confrontation of the planet, the maximum shine is achieved.

If you carefully observe the inner planet, you can find that at first it is gradually removed from the sun every day, then stops (reaches the maximum removal from daylight shine - elongation), after which the angular distance between the planet and the sun begins to shrink and through For a while, the planet disappears in the rays of the evening (morning) dawn. The visibility period of Venus can last up to several months, the period of visibility of Mercury is a couple of weeks. Mercury can be removed from the Sun to the angular distance to 28 °, but in the evening spring and morning autumn elongations, which, as we have already noted, are most convenient for observations of moderate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, are 18 °. But this is enough so that Mercury can be clearly discerning even in the evening heaven.

Eastern (Evening) Endugation of Mercury (or Venus). Orbit scheme.

Venus is removed from the Sun to a much larger angle - up to 47 °. And because of its big brightness (-3; -4m), it can be visible on the background of bright dawn paints and even during the day! Yes, yes, Venus can be found in the naked eye and in the bright time of the day when the sun shines brightly. A particularly convenient time for day observations is spring - summer, when the planet rises high above the horizon, following the zodiac constellations of the northern hemisphere of the heavenly sphere: fish, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Lev, Virgo.

As for the external bright planets, in their visible movement in the celestial sphere there are such concepts as a compound, standing, confrontation, direct and e-mail. Let's start in order. Suppose that one or another external planet, for example, Jupiter is in conjunction With the sun. This means that at that moment the angular distance between the planet and the daily luminaries is minimally and it is not visible in his bright rays. A couple of weeks and planet passes in the morning in the eastern part of the horizon against the backdrop of the morning dawn. In the following weeks, the planet continues to be removed from the Sun, although it moves in heaven live moving. from west to east after the sun. Only the sun per day do the way to the east slightly less than 1 °, while the planet makes a much shorter way, so the angular distance between them is inevitably growing. Gradually, the planet dates it earlier and earlier and becomes already night luminaries. After some time, the planet slows down its direct movement and stops. Becoming standing Planets in the sky. After that, it is already moving in the opposite direction, i.e. from east to west. Such a movement is called pretty. Soon the moment occurs when the angular distance between the sun and the planet reaches 180 °, i.e. Both lights are in the diametrically opposite parts of the sky. Becoming confronting Planets The Sun is the most favorable period for its observations. After the confrontation of the planet continues to move to the west, after which he slows down again and reaches a new standing point. After that, describing the loop in the sky, the planet returns to direct movement, i.e. to the East. The moment confrontation has to be just at the middle of the opponent path of the planet.

Despite the fact that the planet is again in direct movement, the Sun for the above reason already catches the planet in the sky. The planet dates it before and earlier, cultures over the south's point until midnight, then at all in the early evening. It takes time and the planet is already hardly distinguishable in the rays of the evening dawn, and soon and at all in them disappears shortly before the connection with the Sun. So the next period of visibility of the planet ends. After connecting from the Sun, when the angular distance between the planet and the Sun becomes sufficient for the planet to notice on the background of the morning dawn, a new period of visibility of the planet comes, which will repeat the same phases of its trajectories that we just described.

Now go from a brief theory to observations. As you probably understood, the planets on the celestial sphere are in constant motion, moving gradually from the constellation in the constellation. No wonder they are called wandering luminaries. And it is for this reason that the planet is not applied to star maps. So, if you carefully fix the position of the planet relative to one or another star (or group of stars) in the sky and repeat the observation a few days later, it will be possible to note that the planet has changed its position against the starry sky. This movement is most noticeable to Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Saturn moves slower, because It is located from the ground further than all other bright planets. For the observation of his movement in the heavenly sphere, it is better to make sketches once a month.

Considering the fact that the planets are not applied to star cards, it makes no sense to make recommendations for the search for planets, using the methods proposed. Therefore, we strongly recommend our readers to begin to get acquainted with the constellations, and then, using the astronomical calendar or any planetarium program, determine what planet you will search.

Before you begin observations, with the help of an astronomical calendar or planetarium program, which is enough on the Internet, determine which planets we can observe these days in the sky. And we will show the example of January - February 2011. We note immediately that the main planet is once to find, after which you can follow it over the entire period of visibility, get used to her mind in the sky, after which you will definite bright planets in the sky without any calendar. But it is also important for this to get acquainted with the constellations in which there are bright stars competing in particular in brilliance with Mercury, Mars and Saturn. It is useful to find out the position of the side of the horizon in the observation point (direction to the north, east, south and west).

So, January - February 2011. An early evening in the southwestern part of the sky, you can observe a bright yellow shone. This is Jupiter. In the predestal clock in the south - southwest, a white-yellow Saturn is visible, and a bright Venus shines in the southeast on the background of the morning dawn.

An important assistant in the search for planets is the moon, which, moving on the background of the sky, on some days it gets closer with bright planets. So, in the evening on January 10, the moon will be held above Jupiter, at night on January 25, below Saturn, and at dawn on January 30, just below Venus. Early evening on February 7, the moon will again be near Jupiter (above him), at night on February 21 below Saturn, and at dawn on March 1 will be slightly higher than Venus, but the conditions of visibility and the moon, and Venus will be unfavorable (low above the horizon shortly before sunrise) Therefore, the task is to observe this connection will not be out of the lungs. It is worth noting that rapprochement of not the heavenly sphere of the moon with a planet, planets with another planet, planet or moon with a star, asteroid, etc. Also called compound.

At the very end of March 2011, it will be very convenient for observations from medium latitudes Eastern (Evening) elongation of Mercury. And in the early evening of April 4, try to find against the background of the evening dawn and Mercury, and the finest sickle of the moon after the day after the new moon.

But Venus will not be very pleased in 2011. So, by the beginning of the spring, conditions of its visibility will be not very favorable. The planet will be on the background of bright morning dawn in the south-east - east. In the following months, the planet rises almost simultaneously with the sun, hiding in his bright rays. But this situation is preserved until August, when Venus turns out to be connected to the Sun, after which the period of its evening visibility will begin. A truly bright "evening star" Venus will be only by the end of 2011, when it is difficult to not notice in the evenings low in the south-west. But since the end of the summer of 2011, first in the morning, and then the Mars can be observed at night. At the end of the year, he will become a night luminaire, but his confrontation will occur already in 2012.

Successful observations!

The science

Night sky full incredible on the beauty of objects, To see which can be even naked eye. If you do not have special equipment to look at the sky - not trouble, some amazing things can be seen without it.

Impressive comets, bright planets, distant nebula, shimmering stars and constellations - all this can be found in the night sky.

The only thing important to remember light contamination of large cities. In the city, light from lanterns and windows of buildings is so strong that all the most interesting on the night sky it turns out hiddenSo, to see these amazing things, you should go beyond the city.

Light pollution

The brightest planet

Very hot neighbor land - Venus may rightfully be proud of the title the brightest planet of the sky. The brightness of the planet is associated with well-reflective clouds, as well as the fact that it is near the ground. Venus approximately 6 times brighterthan other land neighbors - Mars and Jupiter.

Venus brighter any other objects on the night sky, except, of course, the moon. Its maximum visible value is equal around 5. For comparison: the visible magnitude of the full moon is equal to -13 , that is, it is about 1600 times brighter Venus.

In February 2012, there was a unique compound of the three brightest objects of the night sky: Venus, Jupiter and Moonthat could be seen immediately after sunset.

The biggest star

The largest of the famous science of stars - VY Big PSA, red hypergigant type M, which is located at a distance of approximately 3800 light years From the Earth in the constellation of the Big PSA.

Scientists appreciated that the star VY is a large PSA may be in more than 2100 times more sun sizes. If you put it in a sunny system, then the edges of this monster will be around the Orbit of Saturn.

The surface of hypergigant can hardly be called noticeably outlined, since this star is approximately 1000 times less densethan the atmosphere of our planet at sea level.

VY Big PSA is a source a large number of disputes In the scholar of the world, as the assessment of its size goes beyond the boundaries of the current star theory. Astronomers believe that the star Vy is a large dog for the following 100 thousand years It will explode and die, turning into a "hypernova" and highlighting a colossal amount of energy, and this energy will be greater than any other supernova.

The brightest star

In 1997, astronomers, with the help of the NASA-telescope, NASA "Hubble" found out that the bright of the famous stars is a star, located at a distance 25 thousand light years from us. This star highlights 10 million times more Energy than the sun. In size, this star is also much more exceeding our star. If you put it in the center of the solar system, it will take the orbit of the Earth.

Scientists suggested that this major star, located in the Sagittar Constellation, creates a gas cloud around him, which is called Neboler "Pistol". Thanks to this nebula, the star also received the name of the star Pistol.

Unfortunately, this amazing star is not observed from the land due to the fact that the dust clouds of the Milky Way are hiding. The brightest on the night sky star You can call a star Siriuslocated in the constellation of large dogs. Sirius Star Value is -1,44.

You can watch the Sirius from any point of the Earth, except the northern regions. The brightness of the star is explained not only to her high luminosity, but also a relatively close distance. Sirius is located approximately in 8.6 light years From the solar system.

The most beautiful star in the sky

Many stars are known for their brilliance of different colors, for example, a system consisting of blue and orange stars. Albireo., or bright red star giant Antares. However, the most beautiful of all visible with the naked eye of the stars can be called a red-orange star MJ Cefheawhich is also called the "Grenade Star of Herschel" in honor of its first researcher, British astronomer William Herschel.

Red giant MJ CEFEVA is located in the Cefhea constellation. it thinking variable star and its maximum brightness varies from 3.7 to 5.0. The color of the star is also changing. Most of the time MJ CFERE saturated orange-red, but sometimes it acquires a strange purple shade.

Although MJ Tsefay is a little dull, her reddish tint It can be noticed even with a naked eye, and if you take a simple binoculars, the spectacle will be more impressive.

Long Space Object

The farthest object visible to the naked eye is andromeda galaxywhich includes about 400 billion stars and which noticed in the 10th century an ancient Persian astronomer Al Sufi.. He described this object as a "small cloud".

Even if you arm binoculars or amateur telescope, Andromeda will still look like a little stretched blurred spot. But still she is very impressive, especially if you know that the light from her gets to us 2.5 million years!

By the way, Andromeda Galaxy is approaching our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers rated that these two galaxies will connect about 4 billion years oldAnd Andromeda can be observed in the form of a bright disk in the night sky. However, it is not yet known whether the wishes to look at the sky through so many years will remain on Earth.

morning Star

The only planet in the solar system, named after the goddess of love - Venus, is the brightest planet, the inhabitant of earthly sky. Venus is closest to all approaching our planet, and since its surface is covered with dense clouds, it reflects about 76% of sunlight. The peak of the brightness of Venus on the night sky can be observed shortly before sunrise or after a while after sunset, so it is sometimes called the morning star or evening star.

Venus is the closest planet to the ground, in brightness, it is much surpassed by the light of the brightest springs, while Venus, unlike flickering stars, glows with even white light. Ancient scientists believed that the morning and evening Venus were different stars. In brightness in the Sky Venus - the third brightness object: after the sun and the moon. Even in a weak telescope, you can see various phases of the visibility of the planet's disk: in 1610 this first noted Galilee.

Venus atmosphere

The dimensions of the Earth and Venus are practically identical, as well as these are the only solid octopic planets with a dense atmosphere. These and other facts until the mid-20th century gave grounds for large expectations of astronomer scientists regarding the inhabitants of the closest planet.

But it turned out that there is no life on this bright and beautiful planet, because the atmosphere of Venus consists of a poisonous carbon dioxide and is very tight, which allows you to keep warm and makes it very hot. Also, it would seem, a small difference in distances of 45 million km. Earth and Venus from the Sun became fatal for the existence of any life on this celestial body.

Interesting fact

Interesting is the fact that the sister of the Earth Venus is the only planet that rotates around its axis in the opposite direction. She makes this turn for 243 Earth days. Slow and reverse rotation led to the fact that in Venus the Sun rises and comes only 2 times in the earth. That's the same she is the brightest planet, which is easier to find in the sky than any other.

The most beautiful night sky objects, which are worth seeing May 22nd, 2013

The night sky is fully incredible on the beauty of objects, to see which can be even naked eye. If you do not have special equipment to look at the sky - not trouble, some amazing things can be seen without it. Impressive comets, bright planets, distant nebula, shimmering stars and constellations - all this can be found in the night sky. The only thing is important to remember the light pollution of large cities. In the city, light from lanterns and knowledge windows is so strong that all the most interesting in the night sky turns out to be hidden, so to see these amazing things, you should go beyond the city.

The brightest planet

Very hot neighbor of land - Venus can rightly be proud of the title of the brightest planet of the Necksery. The brightness of the planet is associated with well-reflective clouds, as well as the fact that it is near the ground. Venus is about 6 times brighter than other neighbors of the Earth - Mars and Jupiter.

Venus brighter any other objects on the night sky, except, of course, the moon. Its maximum visible value is about -5. For comparison: the visible magnitude of the full moon is -13, that is, it is about 1600 times brighter Venus.

In February 2012, there was a unique connection of the three brightest Night Sky Objects: Venus, Jupiter and the Moon, which could be seen immediately after sunset.

The biggest star

The largest of the famous science of stars - VY is a large PSA, a red hypergigant type M, which is located at a distance of about 3,800 light years from the ground in the constellation of a large PSA.

Scientists appreciated that the star VY of a large PSA could be in more than 2100 times more than the Sun size. If you put it in a sunny system, then the edges of this monster will be around the Orbit of Saturn.

The surface of hypergigant can hardly be called noticeably outlined, as this star is about 1000 times less dense than the atmosphere of our planet at sea level.

VY Big PSA is the source of a large number of disputes in the scientist of the world, since the assessment of its size goes beyond the boundaries of the current star theory. Astronomers believe that the star Vy of Big PSA over the next 100 thousand years will explode and die, turning into a "hypernova" and highlighting a colossal amount of energy, and this energy will be greater than any other supernova.

The brightest star

In 1997, astronomers, with the help of the NASA "Hubble" space telescope, found out that the bright of the famous stars is a star, located at a distance of 25 thousand light years from us. This star highlights 10 million times greater than the sun. In size, this star is also much more exceeding our star. If you put it in the center of the solar system, it will take the orbit of the Earth.

Scientists suggested that this major star located in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Sagittarius Constellation creates a gas cloud around him, which is called the "Pistol" nebula. Thanks to this nebula, the star also received the name of the star Pistol.

Unfortunately, this amazing star is not observed from the land due to the fact that the dust clouds of the Milky Way are hiding. The bright star in the star of the star can be called Sirius star, located in the constellation of Big Psa. Sirius's star magnitude is -1.44.

You can watch the Sirius from any point of the Earth, except the northern regions. The brightness of the star is explained not only by its high luminosity, but also relatively close distance. Sirius is located about 8.6 light years from the solar system.

The most beautiful star in the sky

Many stars are known for their brilliance of different colors, for example, a system consisting of Albireo blue and orange stars, or a bright red-star-giant Antares. However, the most beautiful of all visible to the naked eye of the stars can be called the red-orange star Muy Cepheva, which is also called the "Grenade Star of the Herschel" in honor of its first explorer, the British astronoma William Herschel.

Red giant MJ CEFEVA is located in the Cefhea constellation. This throbbing variable and its maximum brightness varies from 3.7 to 5.0. The color of the star is also changing. Most of the time MJ CFERE saturated orange-red, but sometimes it acquires a strange purple shade.

Although MJ CFERE is a little dim, her reddish tint can be noticed even with a naked eye, and if you take a simple binoculars, the spectacle will be more impressive.

Long Space Object

The farthest object visible to the naked eye is Andromeda Galaxy, which includes about 400 billion stars and which was noticed in the 10th century an ancient Persian astronomer al Sufi. He described this object as a "small cloud".

Even if they are armed with binoculars or amateur telescope, Andromeda will still look like a little stretched blurry spot. But still she is very impressive, especially if you know that the light from her gets to us for 2.5 million years!

By the way, Andromeda Galaxy is approaching our Milky Way Galaxy. Astronomers appreciated that these two galaxies will connect about 4 billion years, and Andromeda can be observed in the form of a bright disk in the night sky. However, it is not yet known whether the wishes to look at the sky through so many years will remain on Earth.