CHAPTER 5 – LUMINOUS VENUS

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It has often been referred to as Earth’s sister planet. With a diameter of 7,700 miles, Venus is very slightly smaller than the Earth. It has always been known that Venus is much hotter than the Earth.
 

The Missing Oceans of Venus

The evidence suggests that Venus should have a lot of water. Some scientists believe that the photodisassociation of water molecules and the resultant escape of hydrogen into space is the reason why Venus has no more water. But is the water really gone? Or is it now below the surface? Analyses of the Venusian atmosphere led C. A Wood and D. Amsbury to suggest in 1986 that:

“The discovery of a surprisingly high deuterium/hydrogen ratio in Venus immediately led to the peculation that Venus may have once had a volume of surface water comparable to that of the terrestrial oceans.”

They suggested that various terrain features seen in the Venera 15 and 16 radar images might be salt deposits which have remained after the Venusian oceans had evaporated.

It would appear that Venus did once have oceans of water. Venus must have been cooler in the past, perhaps before its Inner Sun got started? The planet might have condensed, cooled down and formed a solid planet. Then as things began settling down, and the inner nuclear reaction got going, the Inner Sun caused lava to flow onto the outer surface of the planet, to evaporate the oceans of water and bury the salt.

The water vapor might well have ended up inside Venus once things had cooled down inside, and much of the atmosphere was sucked inside – leaving mostly carbon dioxide on the outside. Most of the heat from the Inner Sun’s start-up would have reached the outer surface of the planet in the form of lava and hot gases. Of the craters mapped by Magellan, very few show any signs of aging (i.e. tectonic movements, lava-filling, etc.). The surface of Venus should be hundreds of millions of years old, yet it looks freshly minted. It seems to me as if there is some pretty strong evidence which shows that Venus did indeed once have water in oceans and rivers. But then something catastrophic happened which changed all that.

The Planetary Greenhouse

Why is Venus so hot? At first the answer would seem simple: the planet is closer to the Sun, and the greenhouse effect of the gases in its atmosphere has caused it to retain the heat it gets from the Sun, thus causing it to become hotter and hotter. Not all scientists think that the Greenhouse effect alone can account for the high Venusian temperatures. Venus is generating far more heat than it should. Working with data from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, F. W. Taylor,

“… found that Venus radiates 15 per cent more energy than it receives. To keep the surface temperature constant, Venus must be producing this extra heat from within. All the inner planets, including the Earth produce internal heat from radioactive elements in their rocks. But Taylor’s observations of Venus would mean that the planet is producing almost 10,000 times more heat than the Earth – and it is inconceivable, according to present theories of planetary formation, that Venus should have thousands of times more of the radioactive elements than the Earth does…”

Venus is generating far more heat than it should. Note too, that this is estimated to be some 10,000 times more heat than the Earth. This might not necessarily require 10,000 times more radioactive elements. It might merely mean it has an Inner Sun which is more active than the one inside the Earth, and that Venus is better able to retain its heat. The source of this heat is a mystery. Clearly it is of internal origin and has nothing to do with the Sun, or the Greenhouse effect.

Annular Phase of Venus

In order to appreciate some of the amazing things which take place on Venus, let us examine some of the characteristics of its atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure at ground level is between 92 to 95 times that of the Earth. There are also clouds at altitudes of 48 and 68 Km. These clouds have a particle density comparable to thick mist observed at the surface of the Earth. Scientists have long suspected that its atmosphere is highly refractive (i.e. its ability to bend light is considerable). They expect this because of its tremendous atmospheric pressure. On Earth we have a similar effect in the polar regions. The extremely cold air causes light to perform numerous tricks. But on Venus the effects are far greater. In this section we will take a look at how light from the Sun bends right around the planet in all directions. Once the Reader understands this effect, many other phenomenon on Venus will begin to make a lot more sense.
 

Many astronomers noted that as Venus passed in front of the Sun, that Venus would begin developing “horns” at its cusps. These “horns” were the result of the Sun’s light being refracted through the polar regions of Venus.

Most amazing of all were the occasions when half of Venus still had not made contact with the Sun, and yet light was seen shining from the side of Venus furthest away from the Sun. In other words , the light from the Sun had been sharply refracted. At other times a bright ring would form around Venus before contact – sometimes this would happen a day before or after contact with the Sun. The highly refractive Venusian atmosphere may be bending not only the light of our Sun. Perhaps it also bends light emanating from an Inner Sun which lies at the centre of Venus.

Ashen Light of Venus

Sometimes a soft glow is observed on the night side of Venus. The radiated light is usually described as grayish, but it has also been described as greenish and coppery. There seems to be no pattern to the occurrence of the ashen light. There are many reports of instances of the night side of Venus being visible. For Venus to be visible all the way from the Earth, it must be emitting quite a strong light. Even at its closest approach to Earth, Venus is still more than 100 times the distance of the Moon from us.

In some ways the Ashen Light of Venus seems to be a type of auroral activity. However, unlike here on Earth it is not confined to the polar regions. Something is lighting up enormous sections of Venus – and sometimes the entire night side of the planet is lit up. Since Venus is almost the same size as the Earth, the Reader may appreciate the scale of lighting we are talking about. What form of light could light up continent sized areas – so that it can be seen from 26 million miles – up to perhaps 90 or more millions away?
 

Bright Spots

Strange bright spots shine on the day side of Venus for apparently no reason. This phenomenon may be related to the bright polar caps of Venus. It might be caused by an Inner Sun’s light being refracted under suitable atmospheric conditions when various clearings exist in the atmosphere. Another possible explanation may be that these spots might be intense concentrations of disassociated atoms from inside the planet.

They may be the day time extension of the Ashen light, except that one only sees them when they are so intensely concentrated as to be brighter than the rest of the clouds on the day side. When all things are considered however, I tend to favor the Ashen light as the explanation for these bright spots. But some reports refer to bright spots with “scintillating, star-like” qualities which may favor some assistance from a central Sun. The famous French astronomer L. Trouvelot reports:

“From Nov. 13, 1877 till Feb. 7, 1878, two remarkable white spots, strongly reminding me of those seen on Mars, have been observed on the opposite limbs, near the extremity of the cusps. The southern spot, which always appeared the brightest, became very prominent from Jan. 16, 1878, till Feb. 5, and appeared then to be composed of a multitude of bright peaks forming on its northern border a row of brilliant star-like dots of light…”

The above instance may be related to the existence of an Inner Sun. These spots are in the vicinity of the cusps (poles). He notes how the southern spot is generally the brightest. Could it be that temporary clearings in the Venusian polar regions are responsible for some of the light from a Central Sun to be causing this?