The planet Venus is similar to Earth in many ways. The planet is the same size and weight, and has a rocky surface just like Earth, where liquid water is also present. In addition, weather patterns are visible on Venus, just like with us. Researching those weather patterns can help to better understand the weather on Earth.
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Weather patterns on Venus: Currents toward the poles (during the day) and the equator (at night) are believed to cause an east-west super-rotation of clouds.
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Until now, it has only been possible to collect cloud pattern data on the daytime side of Venus. The parts of the planet that are not lit by the sun are too dark for good observations. But since 2015, Japan’s Akatsuki satellite has been orbiting Venus. It is equipped with an infrared camera that can also collect information about the clouds at night.
A lot of calculation work was needed to extract sufficient details from that data. Another problem is that Venus has a phenomenon called super-rotation: weather systems revolve around the planet at great speed, from east to west. The researchers had to compensate for this movement in order to accurately map the north-south currents, for example.
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