I'm curious on this. Venus is roughly the same size as Earth. Our planet has a strong magnetic field helping to shield us. Venus has a very weak magnetic field, one that is caused by the solar winds itself. Mars has no magnetic field and has lost nearly all its atmosphere. Mars is smaller than Earth and Venus of course.
If Mars had an atmosphere and lost it due to the solar winds, why hasn't Venus? I am obviously missing something obvious, but my reading of the various Wiki articles and my Google-Fu hasn't found an answer I'm terribly happy with. I'm probably sorely misunderstanding something.
Anyone care to point me in the right direction? I know that Venus has a LOT of CO2 in the atmosphere, probably formed early on during its development, which lends it some extra protection from the solar winds. Maybe that is why it's atmosphere survived and Mars' didn't? I'd think that by now being as close as it is to the Sun that it would have had a lot blasted away by the solar radiation though.
Help a curious guy out please. :)
If Mars had an atmosphere and lost it due to the solar winds, why hasn't Venus? I am obviously missing something obvious, but my reading of the various Wiki articles and my Google-Fu hasn't found an answer I'm terribly happy with. I'm probably sorely misunderstanding something.
Anyone care to point me in the right direction? I know that Venus has a LOT of CO2 in the atmosphere, probably formed early on during its development, which lends it some extra protection from the solar winds. Maybe that is why it's atmosphere survived and Mars' didn't? I'd think that by now being as close as it is to the Sun that it would have had a lot blasted away by the solar radiation though.
Help a curious guy out please. :)
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1K7pBhA
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