From: Subject: Is Venus' Heat Decreasing? Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 18:26:44 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1255" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://localhost:8780/pubs/journals/pensee/ivr01/51venus.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 Is Venus' Heat Decreasing?

Is Venus' Heat Decreasing?

Immanuel Velikovsky

Not quite six years ago, on a summer day in 1966, 1 had = an=20 unannounced visit by two young men, in their teens. They=20 brought me the news that I was selected the first honorary = member=20 of the Celestial Observer Society, composed of high school and = college=20 amateur astronomer-observers of New York City, with quarters at the = Brooklyn=20 Technological Institute. The Society publishes a mimeographed monthly = magazine.=20 The two delegates made their way from Brooklyn to Princeton, = N.J., on=20 bicycles--a distance of 60 miles. It was my first (and still = my=20 only) honorary distinction; I reciprocated by publishing in = the=20 December, 1966, issue of Celestial Observer the paper=20 reprinted here.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest repeated measurements of the = infrared=20 radiation emitted by the cloud surface of Venus. It is expected by the = author of=20 this communication that a slow drop in the temperature will be detected; = it is=20 suggested that the measurements should be made at synodical intervals. = It should=20 be possible to determine the phenomenon in about five synodical periods = of=20 Venus, or eight terrestrial years at the most. The measurements need to = be taken=20 of the night and day sides of the planetary envelope and also of the=20 terminator.

The basis for this expected detection is in my maintaining that Venus = is a=20 newcomer to the solar system (which is what the Romans also intended to = indicate=20 by giving it its name). I argued (Worlds in Collision, 1950) = that,=20 under its massive envelope Venus, with a short but stormy history, must = be very=20 hot, even incandescent, owing to the presence of natal heat, and to the=20 disturbance in motion with "a thermal effect caused by conversion of = momentum=20 into heat" (Worlds in Collision, p. 371). I made this statement = when=20 Venus was thought, due to the strong reflecting power of its clouds, to = have a=20 ground surface temperature of only a little above that of the Earth.

I offer the new proposition as another crucial test of my theory. = Since=20 "Venus gives off heat" (Worlds in Collision, p. 371), the drop = in the=20 temperature of the ground surface must be reflected in a smaller drop in = the=20 temperature of the cloud surface. In the 1920's E. Pettit and S.B. = Nicholson=20 measured the cloud surface temperature and obtained ca. -25C for both = sides,=20 illuminated and shadowed, which seemed paradoxical. But almost 30 years = later=20 they recalculated their original finds and gave -38C for the day side = and -33C=20 for the night side, which is even more paradoxical.¹ In the = 19mm=20 wavelength, Mariner II also found that the ground surface is warmer on = the night=20 side, but hottest on the terminator.²

In 1956 Strong and Sinton made known their measurements (1953-54) of = the=20 cloud surface of Venus, indicating "approximately -40C" on both sides of = the=20 planet, but found a gradient of 5 which they ascribed to the heating = effect of=20 the sun, on the assumption that Venus rotates directly,³ but = since it=20 rotates retrogradely, the phenomenon is again in conformity with the=20 Pettit-Nicholson observations.

Bolometric measurements can be made to detect even a small fraction = of a=20 degree centigrade. Were it possible to take the Pettit-Nicholson and the = Strong-Sinton figures as a basis for comparison, the drop of circa 1C = per eight=20 years would already be attested. But in view of the implications of the = test,=20 also for the cosmology of the solar system, an exact series of = measurements=20 needs to be organized, possibly by more than one team of observers. If = Venus has=20 revolved on its orbit for billions of years, there should be no = measurable drop=20 in the temperature of the planet that could be detected from its cloud = surface.=20 But, if Venus' history is measured in thousands of years only, there = will be=20 found a detectable drop in the temperature from the top of the cloud=20 envelope.

REFERENCES

1. E. Pettit, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 67,=20 (1955), 293ff.
2. F. T. Bareth et al., "Microwave = Radiometers=20 in Mariner II Preliminary Report," Science, 139 (March 8, = 1963).
3.=20 J. Strong, W. S. Sinton, Science, 123 (April 20, 1956), = 676.

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Thus I maintained that should subsequent measurements show a falling = of the=20 cloud surface temperature, if only in fractions of a degree per year, it = would=20 reflect a substantial loss of heat at the ground surface of the planet = and thus=20 document its youth. I repeated this claim in Yale Scientific = Magazine, 41=20 (April, 1967).

In the July, 1968, issue of the Journal of Atmospheric = Sciences,=20 Gillett, Low and Stein published a short paper ("Absolute Spectrum = of Venus=20 from 2.8 to 14 Microns"). They obtained a definitely lower figure for = the cloud=20 surface temperature than did Sinton and Strong eight years earlier. = Gillett and=20 his co-workers wrote: "The reasons for the disagreement are not = understood at=20 present."

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In the same paper Gillett et al, wrote on a different topic: = "Two=20 fundamental problems are now apparent: (1) What mechanism accounts for = the=20 strong absorption of sunlight in the 3-5 micron region? (2) What = property of the=20 clouds causes the low brightness temperature between 8 and 10 microns?" = They=20 only raised, but did not attempt to answer the question.

These are truly basic facts for the problem of the presence of = organic=20 material (hydrocarbons and carbohydrates) in the atmosphere and clouds = of Venus.=20 On this subject I intend to write for a subsequent issue of = Pensee.

PENSEE Journal I

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