VENUS IS A BURNING-DESERT WORLD
Planet	Water	Greenhouse	Lightning	Spacecraft	Express	Transit	Resources

VENUS

Venus is a burning-desert world hidden under bitter clouds of sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide. It may once have been awash with oceans of near-boiling water.

For hundreds of millions of years, most of the water on Venus was liquid near the boiling point. But the water finally dried up, according to scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, south of San Francisco.

In what they call a moist-greenhouse or wet-greenhouse effect, the water on Venus was able to remain liquid for a few hundred million years because planet temperatures actually were cooler than Earth scientists once thought, and because of the proportion of carbon dioxide to water vapor in the atmosphere of Venus.

Venusian seas dried up slowly as hydrogen eventually escaped into space. Oxygen formed compounds with other elements and was incorporated into the planet's crust.

VENUS

Scientists say liquid water seems essential to life. The Ames researchers said the oceans of Venus might still have been liquid at 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit because of intense pressure. But that may have been too hot for life to begin. If not, it may not have lasted long enough for life to begin.

Learn more:

Venus
• Venus Planet Profile  NASA JPL
• Venus Described  SEDS Nine Planets
• Exploring Venus  STO
• Exploring Venus index  STO
• Planet Venus  STO
• Venus Water  STO
• Venus Greenhouse  STO
• Venus Lightning  STO

Venus Transit
• Venus Transit 2004  STO
• Guide to Viewing the Transit  Science @ NASA
• Guide to Viewing the Transit  Science @ NASA
• 2004 Venus Transit Resource Guide  NASA Sun-Earth Connection
• Movies and diagrams of the transit  Astronomy magazine
• Venus Transits of 2004 and 2012  NASA Goddard
• Guide to the Transit of Venus  Sky & Telescope magazine

Captain James Cook
• James Cook and the Transit of Venus  Science @ NASA
• James Cook and the Transit of Venus  Blue Latitudes
• James Cook Journals  National Library of Australia
• History of Cook's Endeavour  HM Bark Endeavour Foundation
• James Cook Transit Timing Measurements  Royal Society of London
• South Seas Voyaging  National Library of Australia
• James Cook Drawings of 1769 Venus Transit  Armagh Observatory
• Capt. Cook's Voyages  Linda Hall Library History of Science

Exploring Venus and the Solar System
• Venus Spacecraft  STO
• The Pioneers  STO
• The Voyagers  STO
• Exploring the Solar System  STO

How to watch the Sun safely
• Safe Sunwatching  Science @ NASA
• List of solar filter suppliers  Sky & Telescope magazine
• Solar Filter Safety  Sky & Telescope magazine
• Close-Up of a Star  Sky & Telescope magazine
• A Beginner's Guide to Solar Observing  Sky & Telescope magazine

Read more about the Solar System . . .
Star:	The Sun
Inner Planets:	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars
Outer Planets:	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto
Other Bodies:	Moons	Asteroids	Comets
Beyond:	Pioneers	Voyagers