Earth"s twin by Claudia Sonea

The Universe is ubiquitous and in the same time intangible for people, however that has not stopped scientists from wanting to discover its secrets. After launching in space different satellites (Sputnik 1 opened the Space Age on October 4, 1957) and antennas, mankind decided to break space barrier and made its first trip on the moon. It's only an attempt of the chain created by the researcher trying to discover life on other planets and also other planets that could be inhabited. Venus is one of the planet that created many controversies, especially after on Wednesday David Grinspoon of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science told reporters at a conference in Paris that a magnetic antenna on the European Space Agency's Venus Express probe confirmed the suspicions of burst of lightening on the planet. Since 1978 when a NASA probe showed signs of electrical activity in Venus' atmosphere, the astronomers thought the planet has lightening, but could not confirm it due to signal interference. Thanks to the new European space probe their suspicions were finally confirmed and the three decades suspicion has ended. As it is, scientists are now able to study and understand better the atmosphere and climate of Venus. C.T. Russell a geophysics professor at University of California, Los Angeles, and lead author of a paper on the Venusian fireworks that is being published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, said that lightning is cloud-to-cloud and about 35 miles above the surface. Furthermore, the burst of electrical energy from lightening is usually considered to provide the spark of life in primordial ooze. Nevertheless Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was not part of the research team busted the myth and revealed that the atmosphere on Venus is unforgiving: the Venusian atmosphere is 100 times denser than Earth's, is about 900 degrees hotter and has clouds of sulfuric acid. Russell admits that Venus is Earth's twin, but an evil one. The lightening made researcher more trustful into the coolness factor and a change in Venus boring weather with steady winds for the next 400 years, according to Allan Treiman, a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, who isn't affiliated with the research. Surely the event is meaningful, no one can deny it, nor give an explanation. Stay connected, more to come.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_sc/venus_lightning;_ylt=AqjjNe_TF447zQ2n4SqjtmCs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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