Venus is easy to spot in the evening sky, a planet with a surface that is hot enough to melt lead. Akatsuki, a Japanese spacecraft is due to enter reach the hot planet in early December and will take a close up look when it enters orbit.
There are a lot of similarities between Venus and Earth. The planet is about the same distance from the Sun, and has a mass that is close to Earth, with a very active weather system. It also appears to be a planet where the greenhouse effect went awry, and scientists are hoping that the Japanese space mission to Venus will give them greater understanding of the Venusian atmosphere. This will help gain better understandings into Earth's possible climate change controversy.
Akatsuki is blistered with numerous instruments to examine the planets surface and atmosphere. The are cameras for measuring different wavelengths of the magnetic spectrum, from the IR band, to UV, and the visible. Other instruments will check out for volcanic activity, and look for lightning activity.
The Akatsuki spacecraft will orbit around the equator of Venus for 2 years.
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