Hail Venus! Is There Life Here?

A small group of scientists have their heads in the hot clouds of the 2nd planet.

By Erik Baard Posted 01.10.2003 at 2:42 pm 0 Comments

Photograph by James LaBounty: VENUS ENVY
David Grinspoon, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, beholds a model of the orb on which he yearns to find life. Photograph by James LaBounty

View Photo Gallery

If our solar system has a Hell, it's Venus. The air is choked with foul and corrosive sulfur, literally brimstone, heaved from ancient volcanoes and feeding battery-acid clouds above. Although the second planet is a step farther from the sun than Mercury, a runaway greenhouse effect makes it hotter–indeed, it's the hottest of the nine planets, a toasty 900

0 Comments

Popular Tags

Military, Aviation & Space

All Tags All Photos All Videos

Military, Aviation & Space

Hybrid of the Sky
Your 270-mph personal flying machine
The Apollo Vault
At the National Archives, 13,000 reels of data are nowhere to be found - Apollo Hoaxists take note
Why Your Flight Got Cancelled
The top reasons you're grounded

+ More Photo Galleries

Share your photos in the Pop Sci pool at www.flickr.com!
Current theme: Spooky Science
Our latest winner

regarding	user	just commented
The Fastest Punch on the Planet	Microsnake	Actually I thought the
Mammoth (DNA) Resurrection	jayaj	JohnLloydScharf, I can see
Is There Such a Thing as Immature Oil?	lugger11	While hiking in Algonquin
The Ice Plane Cometh	acejas	Sooooooo, at what speed does
Fly? Or Drive?	Bud the Chud	Oh look I found another

Featured

Military, Aviation & Space

Shock to the System
Soldiers who manage to walk away from explosions in Iraq may actually be suffering terrible—yet invisible—brain trauma. Could blast waves be fueling a new breed of injury?
Going Up?
Will the Japanese be the first to elevate to space?