ZME SCIENCE - Discovering Venus-like conditions beyond our Solar System could reveal why some rocky worlds remain havens for life while others become scorching greenhouse infernos. Before solving that mystery, however, astronomers must determine how quickly those distant planets are truly spinning.
Slower rotations can cause hellish conditions astronomers see on Venus, but new research suggests a planet’s atmosphere may make the world appear to rotate much faster than it really does, complicating efforts to understand the climates of planets beyond our solar system. Research by Stephen Kane, a planetary astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside, explores how high-speed atmospheric winds could be mistaken for the rotation of a rocky planet’s solid surface. The issue could become more important as future observatories begin studying Earth- and Venus-sized worlds.