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GREATEST HITS
VENUS
by Emma Gatti
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THE TABLES OF VENUS OF AMMISADUQA A 21-year-long astronomical record of the rising and setting of Venus
3600
YEARS AGO
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2300
APHRODITE The Greeks name the first star of the morning Aphrodite, in honour of the goddess of love
YEARS AGO
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1200
THE CODE OF DRESDEN The Maya produce an almanac showing the complete cycle of Venus, and develop a religious calendar based on the movements of the planet
A. D.
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1610
GALILEO Galileo Galilei confirms that Venus is a planet and not a star
A. D.
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1627
Kepler predicts the 1631 transit of Venus but makes an error in calculating the elliptical orbits of the planets: this transit would have occurred after the sun had set in almost all of Europe
A. D.
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1639
Jeremiah Horrocks, an amateur astrophile, is able to predict the transit of Venus by understanding and correcting the calculation error made by Kepler
A. D.
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1761
Mikhail Lomonosov, a Russian polymath, theorises that Venus had an atmosphere
A. D.
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1961-64
The rotation of Venus is measured for the first time in 1961, and in 1964 is confirmed that it is retrograde, and that one rotation of the planet takes 243 Earth days
A. D.
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1961
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SPUTNIK 7 AND VENERA 1 The Russians are the first to try to reach Venus
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1962
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MARINER 2 The first probe that reaches Venus and accurately measured its atmospheric temperature (around 500°C)
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1966
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VENERA 3 THE FIRST ARRIVAL The Soviet probe enters the atmosphere of Venus
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1967
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VENERA 4 The first probe to actually transmit
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1970
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VENERA 7 The probe transmits for 23 minutes
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1989
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MAGELLANO The NASA spacecraft maps Venus' surface
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2005
A. D.
VENUS EXPRESS The first time for Europe
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2010
A. D.
AKATSUKI The Japanese probe studies Venus’ atmosphere, in particular its stratification
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COMING
SOON
DAVINCI and VERITAS NASA is going back to Venus to study the atmosphere and map the geologic history of the planet. Stay tuned...
EMMA GATTI
is a scientist with a Bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Milan - Bicocca, a PhD in geochemistry from the University of Cambridge, and six years of research experience at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. After 12 years abroad she returned to Milan and co-founded Monnalisa Bytes, for which she is also a writer and science editor. She likes comics, black cats and voice messages.