IA/U.Lisboa Seminar - Venus atmosphere dynamics: Highlights from the Venus Express mission - 26 janeiro 2017

The Venus Express mission was an ESA spacecraft in orbit to Venus from 2006 to 2014 and the first space mission to this planet after a 20 years hiatus. Venus Express carried several instruments well suited to the study of atmospheric dynamics: from cameras in the visible and ultraviolet wavelengths ranges that study the upper clouds to infrared instruments that pierce below the upper clouds or observe the upper atmosphere nightglows and radio experiments to measure Venus temperatures. In December 2015 the Japanese Space Agency JAXA succeeded in locating its Akatsuki mission on orbit around Venus. In this talk I will review some of the exciting results concerning Venus atmosphere obtained during Venus Express, parallel results obtained by ground-based observations, and the exciting prospects for Akatsuki. In particular I will detail our current knowledge from observations about Venus global circulation, meteorological features like its permanently varying polar vortex, the atmospheric vertical structure of clouds and observed atmospheric waves. Pending questions subject of intense research will also be presented.

 

Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa (Seminar room)

Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisboa