Japanese researchers used weather satellites to track Venus's atmospheric temperatures for nearly a decade, revealing new climatic insights.
Japanese team monitors Venus's atmosphere
A Japanese research team has used weather satellites orbiting Earth to monitor temperature changes in the atmosphere of Venus over nearly a decade, according to a study published in the journal Earth, Planets and Space.Satellites originally for Earth weather
The satellites, Himawari-8 and Himawari-9, were originally designed to monitor weather patterns on Earth but can capture images of Venus when it appears on the horizon of their field of view.Study analyzed years of observations
The study, led by Gaku Nishiyama from the University of Tokyo, analyzed 437 such observations between 2015 and 2026, allowing the team to measure the temperature of Venus's upper atmospheric clouds.First long-term temperature dataset
This marks the first continuous long-term dataset of Venus's atmospheric temperatures. The findings suggest more complex climatic dynamics than previously understood.Findings relevant to future missions
The researchers note that this method could also be applied to other celestial bodies like the Moon and Mercury, offering a cost-effective way to study their thermal and compositional changes without dedicated missions.
