Word: venusians
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Readings on the two infra-red wave lengths were essentially identical. This could be interpreted to mean that there were no breaks in the Venusian clouds and that the infra-red waves came from a high, opaque cloud deck. The amount of carbon dioxide above this deck was too small to be detected...
...instruments made another important observation: the limb (edge) of the Venusian disk appears darker than the center. This "limb darkening" means that microwaves and infra-red radiation really originate at the surface or at some level below the top of the atmosphere. Rays coming from the limb must pass slantwise through a greater thickness of atmosphere, and so appear weaker. This rules out one of the leading theories about the Venusian atmosphere: that it is highly ionized on top and therefore glows, making the planet appear hotter than it really is. Such an atmosphere would be brighter at the edges...
Hydrocarbon Clouds. The famous Venusian clouds remain a tantalizing mystery. Some astronomers believe that they are fine dust, kicked up from the surface by tremendous winds in the dense atmosphere, but Professor Kaplan has a more picturesque theory. He thinks they are hydrocarbon droplets similar to the water droplets in earthly clouds. The droplets condense in the cool top of the atmosphere, but stay in vapor form in the lower parts, where the temperature rises above 200° F. So the dark Venusian surface has clear, compressed, oily air. Infra-red rays from the sun penetrate both clouds and atmosphere...
...Venusian Gales. The recent Mariner shot was so successful that it need not be repeated. The next Venus probe will be much more sophisticated. Dr. Meghreblian thinks that Venus is probably plagued by terrific winds, and he wants the next spacecraft to drop a capsule into the planet's clouds to release tough-skinned balloons that will drift with the Venusian gales. A few such balloons, carrying radios that can be followed by an orbiting spacecraft, should tell a lot about the planet's meteorology and perhaps explain what the mysterious clouds are made...
...tons of scrawly paper and three beer glasses," he muttered, walking next door to the science fiction room. He peered in at a lurid wall of magazines and paper novels. Some new stuff had come in, garishly decorated with girls in scanty space suits under attack by lusting Venusian monsters. He glanced once more to make sure the complete set of Weird Tales Magazine hadn't disappeared and then stepped nonchalantly into the elevator and rode it to the second floor above ground...