MEET THE PLANET VENUS VENUS is a fascinating and frightening world. The atmosphere of Venus is very hot (470° C) and thick. You would not survive a visit to the surface of the planet - you couldn't breathe the air, you would be crushed by the enormous weight of the atmosphere, and you would burn up in surface temperatures high enough to melt lead. The atmosphere of Venus is made up mainly of carbon dioxide (96%), and thick clouds of sulfuric acid completely cover the planet. The atmosphere traps the small amount of energy from the sun that does reach the surface along with the heat released by the planet itself. This greenhouse effect has made the surface and lower atmosphere of Venus one of the hottest places in the solar system! If you were on the surface of the planet, the air above you would be about 90 times heavier than the Earth's atmosphere. This is what a submarine experiences at 900m below the surface of the Earth's ocean. Measurements have shown that the atmospheric temperature remains nearly constant through the long dark night. Thus there are neither significant seasons, nor daily temperature changes in the atmosphere. 1

EXPRESS MEET THE SPACECRAFT VENUS VENUS EXPRESS is a reliable, robust spacecraft sharing the legacy of her sisters MEX and Rosetta Some Statistics:  On 09 May 2012, 2210 orbits will be completed after more than 6 Earth years in Venus orbit  More than 4,000 Gbits of data recorded  More than % of potential data was recovered  Only 7 safe modes to date; none in over 2 years.  The VEX science data is stored in the Planetary Science Archive (PSA) at ESAC.  Spacecraft health is excellent.  Mission to continue through at least December Alone at Venus:  ESA is currently operating the only spacecraft at Venus.  No future missions are currently planned for Venus by any national or international space agency.  After Venus Express, there will probably not be new data from Venus for at least 10 years. Upcoming special operations:  Special operations at low pericentre heights, to measure upper atmosphere densities.  TBD – think of anything else? 2

Transit Critical to our early knowledge of the solar system VENUS Once mankind knew that the Earth circled the Sun, how could we measure how far away it was? How big was the Solar System? Thomas Wideman, Senior Researcher at the Paris- Meudon Observatory, will be joining us from the Paris-Meudon Observatory. An expert in the study of planetary atmospheres in the UV, visible and near infrared ranges, he has developed monitoring and interpretation techniques for wind measurements in the mesosphere of Venus in support of the Venus Express mission. Through teaching astronomy and astrophysics to graduate and undergraduate students at Versailles University and Paris Observatory, he has developed a strong interest in the History of Astronomy. 3 Mr. Wideman will be discussing: History of transit predictions and observations Modeling of the aureola in coordination with Venus Express Venus Twilight Experiment : deployment of coronographs on June

Tran sit Helping Today To Map The Galaxy VENUS How common are other planets ? How can we know? How can a Venus Transit help answer that? 4 David Ehrenreich is doing his post- doctoral research at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble in France, studying the physics of exoplanets and the detection and characterization of planetary systems. Mr. David Ehrenreich will be talking to us about how current space missions detect planets around other stars (extrasolar planets) by observing the faint changes in luminosity when a planet passes in front of the star (a transit). This technique is also a powerful tool to probe the atmosphere of these remote worlds. The transit of Venus will be a unique opportunity to test this technique on an Earth-size planet and validate the atmospheric models currently in use for describing extrasolar planets.

Transit What is ESA doing for the Venus Transit? VENUS Venus Express Science Operations Centre (VSOC) team members and INSA people bring the Venus Transit to the world. The complete Venus Transit will not be visible from Madrid, and most of Europe. But with the support of the ESAC Communications Office, INSA and Venus Express, two “expeditions” will set out to observe this special event in two different locations: The island of Svalbard, north of the Arctic Circle, where the Sun never sets at this time of year. Canberra in Australia where the complete VT will be visible. 5 Both teams will carry the same equipment: a solar and an optical telescope on one single equatorial mount equipped with two cameras. Live images will be transmitted via the ESAC VENUS Transit Monitor web site at: Svalbard Expedition Canberra Expedition Use this QR code with your smart phone