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CD School House 9.0 - Wayzata Technology (1994).iso
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1994-02-18
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19 lines
ll (from the northern hemisphere).
$
VENUS
Venus is the only world in the solar system that closely resembles earth in
size and mass. It also comes nearer to earth than to any other planet, at
times approaching as close as 40 million kilometres. Despite the fundamental
similiarity, surface conditions on earth and Venus differ greatly. The chief
disparity is that Venus's surface temperature varies only a few degrees from a
mean of 728 K on both day and night sides of the planet. The high temperature
is due to the dense carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus that, when combined
with small amounts of water vapor and other gases known to be present, has the
special property of allowing sunlight to penetrate the planet's surface, but
does not permit the resulting heat to escape. This process is commonly known
as the greenhouse effect. The clouds and haze that cloak the planet,
consisting chiefly of droplets of sulphuric acid, are highly reflective.
Because its orbit is within that of earth's, Venus is never separated from the
sun by an angle greater than 47o. When Venus is far from us (near the other
side of its