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Article: The night skies of Venus: another kind of aurora?
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- December 6, 1986
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1986 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Night Skies of Venus: Another Kind of Aurora?
The spectacular auroras of earth, such as the aurora borealis or "northern lights," have counterparts in similar phenomena at Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. All are worlds with substantial atmospheres, as well as magnetic fields that guide in energetic particles from outside those atmospheres to help produce the characteristic, glowing emissions. An aurora is a complex effect, but it has been generally assumed that the key properties necessary for auroras to appear are an adequate atmosphere and a proper magnetic field.
Venus, for example, has plenty of atmosphere -- its pressure at the planet's surface is ...