According to the latest report, it seems like Venus was a potentially habitable planet until a mysterious event happened. For more information, read on below!
Was Venus once habitable?
Up until now, we’ve known that Earth is the only planet which is habitable. However, the latest study might prove us wrong. In details, we presume that Venus was essentially a dead planet. For your information, it has a toxic atmosphere 90 times thicker than ours. Moreover, this planet surface’s temperature can reach up to 864 degrees, which is hot enough to melt lead. Notably, due to its similar size with the Earth, we usually call it the Earth’s twin.
Based on what we gather, it looks like the similarities don’t stop there. The latest research which compared the five simulations of Venus’ past and every synopsis gave us a big surprise! Like other planets in the solar system, Venus has formed 4.5 billion years ago. Additionally, it could have supported liquid water and a temperate climate on its surface up to three billion years. Furthermore, these temperatures could have included a maximum of 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
Besides, it should reach a minimum of 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, a mysterious event taking place at least 750 million years ago has completely changed its climate. From the study, the main reason was the massive amount of carbon dioxide releases from rocks on the planet. “We hypothesize that Venus may have had a stable climate for billions of years. The near-global resurfacing event may be responsible for its transformation from an Earth-like climate to the hellish hothouse we see today,” stated Michael Way, study author at The Goddard Institute of Space Science.
Conclusion
To prove the study on the planet’ climate, further investigation surely needs to take place. “We need more missions to study Venus and get a more detailed understanding of its history and evolution,” Way share. “However, our models show that there is a real possibility that Venus could have been habitable and radically different from the Venus we see today. This opens up all kinds of implications for exoplanets found in what is called the ‘Venus Zone’, which may, in fact, host liquid water and temperate climates.”