Reading

[1] The temperature of Venus is 467 degrees Celsius; the atmosphere of Venus is hotter and denser than that of Earth. The atmosphere comprises carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sulphuric acid. It rotates the planet in four days and its winds move up to 60 times the speed of the rotation of Venus. Venus does not have a magnetic field. The ionosphere separates the atmosphere and excludes the solar magnetic field. It has its own magnetic environment or induced magnetosphere. Water vapour and gases are blown away.

[2] It is thought that up to 4 billion years ago, the atmosphere of Venus had liquid water on the surface. With the evaporation of surface water and rise of gases, a greenhouse effect may have been caused. Despite the differences with earth, the pressure and temperature of the upper atmosphere is nearly the same as that of the Earth. As the upper atmosphere is the most Earth-like in the solar system, it has been suggested as an ideal location for exploration.

[3] The atmosphere of Venus is made up of carbon dioxide and a little nitrogen. It consists of a range of compounds, such as hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride. One of the first people to hypothesize on the atmosphere of Venus was Mikhail Lomonosov, who observed the orbit of Venus in 1761 from his home in St. Petersburg. He observed an arc of light surrounding Venus and concluded that an atmosphere existed. Later, Rupert Sildt calculated the hot temperature of Venus. This was later confirmed by Mariner 2 which made measurements of the temperature in 1962.

[4] The atmosphere of Venus is divided into sections. The troposphere is the densest part of the atmosphere, at the surface of the planet. Ninety percent of the atmosphere of Venus is within 28 km of the surface, whereas 90% of the atmosphere of Earth is within 10 km of the surface. Winds are slow at the surface and get faster with altitude. Pressure is 92 times that of earth at the surface of Venus. Because of this pressure, Carbon dioxide is not a gas but a supercritical fluid that covers the entire surface of the planet. This ocean buffers the temperature changes between night and day. Because of the enormous amount of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse effect is created, making Venus the hottest planet in the solar system.

[5] Scientists have identified the atmosphere of Venus consisting of 0.002% water vapour. It is thought that Venus was bombarded by the same comets and delivered huge quantities of water to Earth. So, why does Venus have less water than Earth? It is believed that on Venus, plate tectonics stopped and the planet did not release as much heat from the interior. In contrast, the Earth’s magnetosphere is generated by the convection of material deep inside the Earth, due to the large difference between the inner and outer core. Earth’s atmosphere has 100,000 times as much water as Venus, thanks to our protective magnetosphere.

[6] As the conditions on the surface of Venus are harsh, it is difficult to explore this planet. However, it is thought that life could exist in the cloud tops in the same way bacteria have been found in Earth’s clouds. It is possible that microbes could exist in the cloudy atmosphere of Venus, protected by sulphur compounds. At the Norman Lockyer Observatory in England, a discovery of bacteria appeared in rainwater between 1937 and 1961. The scientists involved in the study of these bacteria suggest that they may have originated in the atmosphere of Venus, following the geomagnetic storms. The bacteria may have been transported to earth by a solar wind.

[1] In the fifth century AD, Britain was being attacked by the Irish, Pict and Germanic people from southern Denmark and Germany. These invaders were called Saxons. The term Anglo Saxon was developed in the eighth century. It was coined to distinguish between the British (Anglo) and the Germanic people (Saxons). The Roman-Britano leaders defended the land as best they could, but the invaders eventually began to settle into Britain. Irish kingdoms settled in both the west and north of the country. Meanwhile, the Angles, Saxons and Jute tribes took over the east part of Britain.

[2] Most of the information we have gathered about the Anglo-Saxons has been collected from cemeteries where personal possessions were placed. A graveyard in Suffolk is considered to be a royal cemetery of the East Anglian kings. A large oak ship was discovered here along with objects suggesting that the Swedes settled in this area.

[3] Although the Christian church suffered greatly from the invasions, it survived in the areas of Roman Britain that were not invaded by the Anglo-Saxons. Two missionaries came out of that church: Saint Nina from Scotland and Saint Patrick. Nina founded a church at Whithorn. Patrick is thought to have come from Wales where he was captured by Irish raiders. Having escaped home from slavery, he returned again to Ireland where he introduced Christianity to the Irish population. It is thought that he was buried in County Down in the late fifth century. St Columba was a later missionary who founded Derry and Durrow in Ireland. In 565 AD, he founded the monastery of Iona on an island west of the Isle of Mull in Scotland.

[4] One important source of sixth to eighth century British history is the ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’, written by a monk, Venerable Bede. In his work, he explains how Pope Gregory (pope from 590 to 604 AD) sent a missionary called Augustine to England to found major churches in London and York. Augustine met Æthelberht, king of Kent, in 597AD who gave him land in Canterbury to build a church. Thus, Canterbury became the main centre for English Christianity. Æthelberht and Edwin, king of Northumbria, both converted to Christianity.

[5] Britain was now divided into the kingdoms of Diera (Yorkshire), Bernicia (north)South Saxons (Sussex), East Angles (East Anglia), West Saxons (Wessex) and Mercians in the Midlands. Cornwall, Devon and Wales were independent and in Northern Ireland, there were smaller kingdoms. Some British kingdoms remained independent, including Cornwall and Devon in the south west, Gwynedd and Powys in modern Wales, and Strathclyde, in what is now the region of Glasgow.

[6] At this time, the Irish missionaries founded churches along the west coast of Scotland. Converts remained loyal to the Iona church, founded by Columba. However, a disagreement over the Christian calendar arose. King Oswiu decided for the Roman calendar over the Ionan calendar. From that point, Irish influence on the England church began to wane. Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury was appointed in 668 AD by Pope Vitalian. Theodore introduced Greek and established new dioceses.

[7] Irish and English missionaries continued to travel and convert in France, Italy and Germany. Great English missionaries included Egbert and Boniface who reorganized the church in Germany and Bavaria. The Northumbrian empire began to decline after 685AD. However, Northumbria remained a cultural crossing point between Rome, England and Ireland. Sculptor, poetry and a library of works remains from Northumbrian culture.