自然杂志 ›› 2012, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (2): 88-95.

• 专题综述 • 上一篇    下一篇

神秘的金星

胡中为   

  1. 教授,南京大学天文与空间科学学院,南京 210008
  • 收稿日期:2011-06-20 修回日期:2011-07-20 出版日期:2012-04-25 发布日期:2012-04-25

Mysterious Planet Venus

 HU Zhong-Wei   

  1. Professor, School of Astronomy and Space Science,Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
  • Received:2011-06-20 Revised:2011-07-20 Online:2012-04-25 Published:2012-04-25

摘要: 金星是地球的近邻“姐妹行星”,它们的大小和质量相当。早先曾推想金星有类似于地球的生机环境,甚至存在生物。但近半个世纪的探测表明,金星是跟地球差异甚多的神秘奇特世界。例如,金星与地球的自转方向相反(逆向自转),且特缓慢,金星的一昼夜相当于116.75(地球)日,不到两昼夜就度过一金星年——“度日(昼夜)如年”;它被浓密的大气和云层笼罩,难见表面的“庐山真面貌”,表面气压达93 bar(1 bar=100 kPa),强烈的温室效应使表面气温达467 ℃,酷热而干燥的环境显然不会存在生物;60%表面高程差不超过500 m,仅5%表面高出2 km;跟有古老而严重陨击的月球和水星不同,金星整个表面似乎都是地质上年轻的,陨击坑少,而火山地貌占主导,平均年龄可能不超过5亿年,几乎90%的表面是固结的玄武岩浆,到处有熔岩流和各种火山,断裂和断层交割景观,但没有地球那样的板块构造特征,也没有海洋和河流。金星的很多秘密还需要进一步探测研究。

关键词: 金星, 飞船探测, 逆向自转, 强温室效应, 火山地貌, 陨击坑, 构造特征

Abstract: Venus is the Earth’s nearest neighbor “sister planet” with comparative size and mass,and it is very early to be speculated that Venus may be similar in the earth’s life environment, there is even creatures. But nearly half a century of detection show that Venus is more mysterious strange world what is different with the Earth. For example, the rotation of Venus is slow  in opposite directions of the Earth (retrograde rotation) one night and day of Venus equals to 116.75 of earth days, less than two night and day of Venus will spend the one year of Venus——as “one day seems like a year”.Its dense atmosphere and cloud enveloped the global, and it is hard to see the  true appearance. The atmospheric pressure at its surface is 93 times that at the earth surface, and strong greenhouse effect makes surface temperature of 467 ℃, where hot and dry environment obviously does not exist biological. 60% surface elevation difference is less than 500 meters and only 5% higher than 2 km above the surface. Different from the Moon and the Mercury with old and serious meteorite impact, the entire surface of Venus seems to be the same age and geologic young with less impact crater, and dominated by volcanic geology with an average age of less than 500 million years, where nearly 90% of the surface of the consolidation is basaltic magma, all lava flows and all kinds of volcanoes, faults and fracture, but without the earth’s delivery landscape with plate tectonic characteristics, it also do not have the ocean and river. A lot of secrets of Venus need further exploration.

Key words: Venus, spacecraft exploration, retrograde rotation, strong greenhouse effect, volcanic feature, impact crater, tectonic feature