| Welcome_to_the_Planets__Venus Planetary profile and vital statistics, some pictures. |
| ACalendar_com The calendar has many options with a standard monthly interface, including sunrise, sunset, and Moon phases. |
| Annus_Novus_Decimal_Calendar A proposal for a non-sectarian, culturally neutral calendar system. |
| Astro_Portal_-_CalSKY The worldwide interactive online astronomical/space calendar and calculator - for friends of astronomy, as well as astronomers. |
| Astronomical_Time_Keeping Extensive descriptions of many astronomical time keeping systems, with information on time zones and Julian day numbers. |
| Astronomy_by_JavaScript__Sun_Calculators_and_More Applets related to calendars and keeping time, including sidererial time. |
| Astronomy_Calendar Features different views of the night sky, constellations, stars, planets, and other celestial wonders. |
| Blue_Moon_Myths Second full moon in a month, or third full moon in a single season? |
| Britannica_com_-_Clockworks__From_Sundials_to_the_Atomic_Second Britannica.com explores the history of timekeeping, from sundials to cesium atomic clocks. |
| The_Calendar,_Leap_Years_and_the_Year_2000 An explanation of the calendar including the origin of the day, week, month and year. |
| Calendar_Studies Articles on the Gregorian and Julian calendars, the ISO date format, the Julian day number system, the Maya calendar, the Goddess lunar calendar, the Liberalia Triday Calendar and C functions for date |
| Calendars_through_the_Ages History and FAQs of calendars, from ancient Rome to outer space. Including Julian, Gregorian, Jewish, Islamic, Chinese, and Mayan. |
| Calendopaedia The Encyclopaedia of Calendars. |
| Calendrical_Calculations Published by Cambridge University Press. Gives a unified algorithmic presentation of the Gregorian, ISO, Julian, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Islamic civil calendars. |
| The_Chinese_Calendar The mathematics of the Chinese calendar. Explains the rules for the Chinese calendar. |
| The_Difference_Between_the_Millennium_and_Year_2000 Questions and answers to satisfy the hearts of true millennium buffs. |
| Greenwich_Time__Home_of_World_Time_(GMT)_since_1884 Complete guide to times in every time zone in the world. |
| Hindu_Calendar_Dates_52nd_Century Explains the cosmological and astronomical influences in creating the Indian calendar. |
| Indian_Moons A list of many American Indian tribe's names for months, days, and other calendar related information. |
| The_Islamic_Calendar The mathematics of the Islamic calendar in Singapore. |
| The_Julian_and_Gregorian_Calendars Explanations of the Julian Calendar, the Gregorian Reform, the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, the length of the tropical year and related matters. |
| Julian_Day_Numbers An explanation of the Julian day number system used by astronomers and calendricists. |
| Leap_Seconds Civil time is occasionally adjusted by one second increments called leap seconds. A detailed explanation of what a second actually is, and why leap seconds are necessary. |
| LunarCal_-_A_Perpetual_Chinese_Lunar_Calendar LunarCal is a 160-year perpetual Chinese Lunar Calendar for 1900 to 2060. Chinese festivals are listed and the moon phase is displayed. |
| Lunisolar_Calendar Lunar calendar with lunations, from new moon to new moon, instead of months. Moon phase on each day. Chinese, Jewish, and Islamic months. Eclipses, meteors, planets, star charts. Christian, Pagan, Isl |
| Maya_Calendar_2000 The calendar was the center of Maya life and their greatest cultural achievement. To carry out their astronomical calculations they developed a sophisticated mathematical system. The Maya Calendar web |
| Millennium_Mistake Explains the difference between millenium and year 2000 as the absence of a year zero. |
| Rosetta_Calendar An online handy tool for converting to and from the Gregorian, Julian and Jewish calendars. |
| Time_and_Date Lots of time and date related information, such as yearly and monthly calendars, counters, countdown, and the world clock which shows the current time in cities all over the world. |
| Time_and_Dates Information on date, time, and time zones from the New York Public Library. |
| Types_of_Calendars An explanation of lunar, solar, lunisolar, rule-based and other types of calendars. |
| World_Calendar/Clock,_Appointments,_Sun/Moon_positions,_Metric/Calendar_Conversion PlexGlobe is a productivity toolkit for global users and businesses that includes: - World clock and calendar such as Chinese and so on. |
| World_Holidays__Weeks_and_Months Information on the origin of the week, and etymology of month and weekday names. |
| ComSpec3D An online tool for calculation and visualisation of infrared and Raman spectroscopic results, with normal mode information. |
| CytoSpec_Inc_ Software for the analysis of infrared spectral maps including chemical mapping, cluster mapping, PCA and ANN imaging. Includes glossary, downloads and contacts in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. |
| Dr__Georgiou_Lab_of_Analytical_Chemistry Research into olive oil analysis, pesticides formulation analysis, flow injection, using analytical Raman spectroscopy and biosensors, at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. |
| Infrared_identification_of_Organic_Unknowns Includes a brief description of the theory, a step-by-step guide to peak assignment and some problems. |
| Infrared_Spectroscopy Includes information on the principles, absorption peaks for organic molecule functional groups and sample preparation methods, as part of the general program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massa |
| Infrared_Spectroscopy_and_Greenhouse_Gases Introduction and overview, maintained at the Department of Chemistry, Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania. |
| Infrared_Spectroscopy_of_Overtones_and_Combination_Bands [PDF] A paper on the analysis and mechanisms in these bands. |
The Bringer of Peace 
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the sixth largest. Venus' orbit is the most nearly circular of that of any planet, with an eccentricity of less than 1%. orbit: 108,200,000 km (0.72 AU) from Sun diameter: 12,103.6 km mass: 4.869e24 kg Hardcopy The New Solar System Summarizes what we havve learned from interplanetary explorations in the last 25 years. My primary reference for The Nine Planets. Venus Revealed The latest results from Magellan in an accessible and easygoing book. Covers mythology and history of our "sister planet" as well as up to date science and a history of the Magellan project. Venus in Transit Fascinating account of past transits and the woes that befell those involved. Venus (Greek:Aphrodite; Babylonian: Ishtar) is the goddess of love and beauty. The planet is so named probably because it is the brightest of the planets known to the ancients. (With a few exceptions, the surface features on Venus are named for female figures.) Venus has been known since prehistoric times. It is the brightest object in the sky except for the Sun and the Moon. Like Mercury, it was popularly thought to be two separate bodies: Eosphorus as the morning star and Hesperus as the evening star, but the Greek astronomers knew better. (Venus's apparition as the morning star is also sometimes called Lucifer.) Since Venus is an inferior planet, it shows phases when viewed with a telescope from the perspective of Earth. Galileo's observation of this phenomenon was important evidence in favor of Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the solar system.
Venera 9 surface photo The first spacecraft to visit Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962. It was subsequently visited by many others (more than 20 in all so far), including Pioneer Venus and the Soviet Venera 7 the first spacecraft to land on another planet, and Venera 9 which returned the first photographs of the surface. The first orbiter, the US spacecraft Magellan 
Magellan radar map (false color) produced detailed maps of Venus' surface using radar. ESA's Venus Express is now in orbit with a large variety of instruments.Venus' rotation is somewhat unusual in that it is both very slow (243 Earth days per Venus day, slightly longer than Venus' year) and retrograde. In addition, the periods of Venus' rotation and of its orbit are synchronized such that it always presents the same face toward Earth when the two planets are at their closest approach. Whether this is a resonance effect or merely a coincidence is not known. Venus is sometimes regarded as Earth's sister planet. In some ways they are very similar: Venus is only slightly smaller than Earth (95% of Earth's diameter, 80% of Earth's mass). Both have few craters indicating relatively young surfaces. Their densities and chemical compositions are similar. Because of these similarities, it was thought that below its dense clouds Venus might be very Earthlike and might even have life. But, unfortunately, more detailed study of Venus reveals that in many important ways it is radically different from Earth. It may be the least hospitable place for life in the solar system.
Venus in visible light from Galileo The pressure of Venus' atmosphere at the surface is 90 atmospheres (about the same as the pressure at a depth of 1 km in Earth's oceans). It is composed mostly of carbon dioxide. There are several layers of clouds many kilometers thick composed of sulfuric acid. These clouds completely obscure our view of the surface. This dense atmosphere produces a run-away greenhouse effect that raises Venus' surface temperature by about 400 degrees to over 740 K (hot enough to melt lead). Venus' surface is actually hotter than Mercury's despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun.
Venus in ultra-violet light There are strong (350 kph) winds at the cloud tops but winds at the surface are very slow, no more than a few kilometers per hour. Venus probably once had large amounts of water like Earth but it all boiled away. Venus is now quite dry. Earth would have suffered the same fate had it been just a little closer to the Sun. We may learn a lot about Earth by learning why the basically similar Venus turned out so differently. Most of Venus' surface consists of gently rolling plains with little relief. There are also several broad depressions: Atalanta Planitia, Guinevere Planitia, Lavinia Planitia. There two large highland areas: Ishtar Terra in the northern hemisphere (about the size of Australia) and Aphrodite Terra along the equator (about the size of South America). The interior of Ishtar consists mainly of a high plateau, Lakshmi Planum, which is surrounded by the highest mountains on Venus including the enormous Maxwell Montes.
Sif Mons (Magellan radar) Data from Magellan's imaging radar shows that much of the surface of Venus is covered by lava flows. There are several large shield volcanoes (similar to Hawaii or Olympus Mons) such as Sif Mons. Recently announced findings indicate that Venus is still volcanically active, but only in a few hot spots; for the most part it has been geologically rather quiet for the past few hundred million years. There are no small craters on Venus.It seems that small meteoroids burn up in Venus' dense atmosphere before reaching the surface. Craters on Venus seem to come in bunches indicating that large meteoroids that do reach the surface usually break up in the atmosphere. The oldest terrains on Venus seem to be about 800 million years old. Extensive volcanism at that time wiped out the earlier surface including any large craters from early in Venus' history.
Coronae
Pancake volcanoes Magellan's images show a wide variety of interesting and unique features including pancake volcanoes (left)which seem to be eruptions of very thick lava and coronae (right)which seem to be collapsed domes over large magma chambers. The interior of Venus is probably very similar to that of Earth: an iron core about 3000 km in radius, a molten rocky mantle comprising the majority of the planet. Recent results from the Magellan gravity data indicate that Venus' crust is stronger and thicker than had previously been assumed. Like Earth, convection in the mantle produces stress on the surface. However on Venus the stress is relieved in many relatively small regions instead of being concentrated at the boundaries of large plates as is the case on Earth. Venus has no magnetic field, perhaps because of its slow rotation. Venus has no satellites, and thereby hangs a tale. Venus is usually visible with the unaided eye. Sometimes (inaccurately) referred to as the "morning star" or the "evening star", it is by far the brightest "star" in the sky. There are several Web sites thatshow the current position of Venus (and the other planets) in the sky.More detailed and customized charts can be created with aplanetarium program.On June 8 2004, Venus passed directly between the Earth and the Sun, appearing as a large black dot travelling across the Sun's disk. This event is known as a "transit of Venus" and is very rare: the last one was in 1882, the next one is in 2012 but after than you'll have to wait until 2117. While no longer of great scientific importance as it was in the past, this event was the impetus for a major journey for many amateur astronomers.
Webwww.nineplanets.org more Venus images from NSSDC Venus Revealed Images by David Grinspoon Magellan mission home page Venusian Craters and Venusian Volcanic Features from LANL Magellan Venus Explorer's Guide from JPL; about Magellan and Venus prior to the Magellan data Guide to Magellan Image Interpretation from JPL The Magellan Spacecraft at Venus by Andrew Fraknoi of ASP Venus Nomenclature Table Magellan Image Browser maps of Venus, Mars and the Moon