Giant Mystery Wave Spotted in Atmosphere of Venus

A huge wave has been spotted in the upper atmosphere of Venus, baffling scientists because it's staying so still above the planet's surface. Usually clouds in that region move at about 100 meters (328 feet) per second, whereas this cloud is stationary compared to the planet's rotation.

New work suggests that the wave was created in the lower atmosphere when it flowed over a mountain, which would be similar to a phenomenon on Earth called a "gravity wave." The feature, related to atmospheric flow over mountains, has nothing to do with the similarly named "gravitational wave," which refers to space-time ripples in the early universe.

Source

This is interesting. It would appear as though a gravity wave had formed in the atmosphere of Venus as a result of the topography below the wave:



What's more, is that this discovery took place very shortly after orbital insertion:

Akatsuki was inserted into a Venus orbit on 7 December 2015 on the second attempt at Venus orbit insertion (VOI).
...
The brightness temperature distributions of the cloud top obtained on 8–11 December 2015 are also shown in Fig. 1. Note that although the apparent diameter of the Venus disk decreased as the spacecraft moved away from Venus, t he size of the Venus disk in Fig. 1b–e is adjusted to have the same diameter in each image. The bow-shaped structure existed for at least four days after 7 December while maintaining its shape, approaching the evening terminator day by day. Unfortunately, no data are available after 12 December be cause observation was suspended due to necessary operations related to the orbit, attitude and telecommunication of the spacecraft. When LIR observed the same longitude and local time region at the earliest opportunity on 15 January 2016, the bow-shaped structure had disappeared.

Nature

So this appears to have been a short lived phenomenon that the orbiter was lucky enough to observe. I wonder what other information will be forthcoming from our neighboring planet?

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical

What's more, is that this discovery took place very shortly after orbital insertion......

So this appears to have been a short lived phenomenon that the orbiter was lucky enough to observe. I wonder what other information will be forthcoming from our neighboring planet?

Cool find, but it almost sounds like the insertion of the orbiter into Venus' atmosphere may have even caused it.

I know that correlation does not equal causation but the timing is curious, to say the least.

Thanks for posting.

a reply to: Flatfish

There is suggestion that the ripple is caused by flow of atmosphere riding up ground topography, and propagating upwards, till breaking the upper atmosphere.

Did any of the, what I hear is a legion of, amateur astronomers get a shot of this?

Or any other organisation, spacecraft or CGI artist?

Another thing I found interesting about this mission is that the main engine crapped out on them and they had to use maneuvering thrusters to achieve orbital insertion:

Akatsuki was originally supposed to enter Venus orbit on Dec. 6, 2010, then study the planet's clouds, weather and atmosphere from above for at least two years to learn more about how the world became so hot and seemingly inhospitable to life. But the spacecraft's main engine conked out during a crucial orbit-insertion burn, and Akatsuki went zooming off into space.
...
On Sunday (Dec. 6), Akatsuki fired its small attittude-control thrusters for 20 minutes to achieve Venus orbit (its main engine was pronounced dead long ago). After a few days of calculations and computations, mission controllers have now determined that the maneuver worked.

Space.com

Regarding any other observations of this phenomenon, pretty sure no earth-based scopes would have the focal resolution in order to be able to see this. Maybe the Hubble or Spitzer Space telescopes, but that wold require some finagling.

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical
Another thing I found interesting about this mission is that the main engine crapped out on them and they had to use maneuvering thrusters to achieve orbital insertion:

Akatsuki was originally supposed to enter Venus orbit on Dec. 6, 2010, then study the planet's clouds, weather and atmosphere from above for at least two years to learn more about how the world became so hot and seemingly inhospitable to life. But the spacecraft's main engine conked out during a crucial orbit-insertion burn, and Akatsuki went zooming off into space.
...
On Sunday (Dec. 6), Akatsuki fired its small attittude-control thrusters for 20 minutes to achieve Venus orbit (its main engine was pronounced dead long ago). After a few days of calculations and computations, mission controllers have now determined that the maneuver worked.

Space.com

Regarding any other observations of this phenomenon, pretty sure no earth-based scopes would have the focal resolution in order to be able to see this. Maybe the Hubble or Spitzer Space telescopes, but that wold require some finagling.

It went zooming of into space for 5 years, then 20 minutes of control thruster firing got it back into Venus' orbit? 5 years later?

Like when they jumped the asteroid in Armageddon?

So I guess there is nothing to back this up then.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Looks like an emoji leaning to the left.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Flatfish

There is suggestion that the ripple is caused by flow of atmosphere riding up ground topography, and propagating upwards, till breaking the upper atmosphere.

New work suggests that the wave was created in the lower atmosphere when it flowed over a mountain,

And I heard it was caused by atmospherical flows passing over elevated terrain making it rise to higher portions of the atmosphere.

It's hard to tell which one is correct.

a reply to: MatterOfPerspective

It went zooming of into space for 5 years, then 20 minutes of control thruster firing got it back into Venus' orbit? 5 years later?

Yep, that's pretty much what happened:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe fired its small attitude-control thrusters for 20 minutes Sunday evening in a second and final attempt to enter Venus orbit. Akatsuki's first try — which came exactly five years earlier, on Dec. 6, 2010 — failed when the probe's main engine conked out during the orbit-insertion burn, sending the spacecraft sailing off into deep space.
...
Akatsuki's orbit will be much more elliptical than originally planned — featuring a period of 8 or 9 days, compared to 30 hours for a 2010 Venus arrival — if Sunday's maneuver worked. But the probe should still be able to achieve most of its mission goals, JAXA officials have said.

Akatsuki performed the engine burn Sunday at 6:51 p.m. EST (2351 GMT; 8:51 a.m. on Dec. 7 Japan Standard Time), according to the JAXA update.

Space.com

Please note that the orbit is much different than the one originally intended. This is due to the difference in thrust available to the attitude-control thrusters and the main drive.

So I guess there is nothing to back this up then.

Wrong, there is something called science.

Here is the site dedicated to the spacecraft.

I'll bet you think we never went to the moon and that the earth is flat too...



a reply to: MatterOfPerspective

As TrueBrit has stated, this is the same thing.

a reply to: MatterOfPerspective

Pretty much the same thing as far as I can make out.

It is however, absolutely amazing to see.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Wrong, there is something called science.

Gotta love the random appeals to the "science".

Did science put a second spaceraft there by a second organisation that also took pictures of this event. No?

Then science cannot verify these claims.

Here is a visual depiction of the explanation:

Gravity waves form when strong winds strike a large obstacle, such as a mountain range or a thunderstorm. With an effect similar to the rippling waves that spread after a rock is thrown into a lake, this wave of air can travel horizontally for hundreds of miles and vertically to the outer reaches of our atmosphere—more than 60 miles high.

In search of 60-mile-high waves

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: MatterOfPerspective

Pretty much the same thing as far as I can make out.

You don't say.

Then why repeat that line from the OP?

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Yep, that's pretty much what happened:

It went sailing off into deep space for 5 years and all it took was 20 minutes of control thruster to bring it back into Venus' orbit?

Is this like when Darth Vader's Tie fighter spun out of control, sailing off into deep space but he managed to regain control of it, using the Force?

a reply to: MatterOfPerspective

Did science put a second spaceraft there by a second organisation that also took pictures of this event. No?

Are you serious?

Space is an extremely hostile environment, it would be a colossal waste of resources to send up a probe merely to watch another probe.

Here is a list of missions to Venus, at present Akatsuki is the only instrument package in orbit around Venus.

This is one of the huge successes of space exploration considering what they had to do in order to salvage the orbital insertion:

After performing the last of a series of four trajectory correction maneuvers between 17 July and 11 September 2015, the probe was established on a rendezvous trajectory with Venus. The rendezvous occurred on 7 December 2015, when Akatsuki successfully entered Venus orbit after a 20-minute burn with four thrusters that were not rated for such a hefty propulsive maneuver.[4][5][34] Instead of taking about 30 hours to complete an orbit around Venus—as was originally planned—Akatsuki will complete one orbit every nine days after an adjustment in March 2016

Wiki

Here is a host of google scholar links regarding the papers published in relation to the science in which this orbiter has been involved.

This is the paper published in which they describe the process they went through in order for it to have the second chance at obtaining orbit.



a reply to: MatterOfPerspective

It went sailing off into deep space for 5 years and all it took was 20 minutes of control thruster to bring it back into Venus' orbit?

Not quite, it took a little more than this, see above for more detailed explanation.

Here is some basic reading for your edification:

Orbital mechanics, also called flight mechanics, is the study of the motions of artificial satellites and space vehicles moving under the influence of forces such as gravity, atmospheric drag, thrust, etc. Orbital mechanics is a modern offshoot of celestial mechanics which is the study of the motions of natural celestial bodies such as the moon and planets. The root of orbital mechanics can be traced back to the 17th century when mathematician Isaac Newton (1642-1727) put forward his laws of motion and formulated his law of universal gravitation. The engineering applications of orbital mechanics include ascent trajectories, reentry and landing, rendezvous computations, and lunar and interplanetary trajectories.

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical


This is interesting. It would appear as though a gravity wave had formed in the atmosphere of Venus as a result of the topography below the wave:

What's more, is that this discovery took place very shortly after orbital insertion:

Absolutely awesome OP! Stars and Flag from me.

Pretty cool to visually see atmospheric effects happening on other planets.

I really hope the project to get a probe that can maintain altitude in the clouds gets off the ground and there to Venus, considering many of the data collected over the decades has show temps and pressure would be just right for air borne bacteria life forms.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

So there is nothing to back this up, like I said.

originally posted by: MatterOfPerspective
a reply to: jadedANDcynical

So there is nothing to back this up, like I said.

Are you for real? If so, can you back this up, because you sound like a troll bot...

a reply to: MatterOfPerspective
Do you know ANYTHING about orbital mechanics and how spacecrat can "visit" the same body after many years? Many outbound spacecraft used "gravitational slingshot" by looping around the inner Solar System for several years and "visiting" Earth and/or Mars in order to get a gravitational acceleration from them.

originally posted by: MatterOfPerspective
It went sailing off into deep space for 5 years and all it took was 20 minutes of control thruster to bring it back into Venus' orbit?

Actually, it didn't go sailing off into deep space; it's more or less followed Venus in its orbit around the Sun:


www.nippon.com...

A little research goes a long way.