This isn't a very intelligent question on my part, but I do appreciate sincere honest answers.?

Question

What sort of thermometers or temperature gauges do we use to calculate the temperatures on other planets? How do we really know that Venus can reach up to 900 degrees F? How do we know that winds on planet Neptune can reach up to 1000 mph?

I'm just starting to become obsessed with astronomy and I'm not that smart right now when it comes to it. I have the utmost respect for anyone willing to educate me a little bit here.

Thank you,

- Stallion

Answer 1

That's a very good and intelligent question, I would say.

The temperature of distant bodies can be measured by looking at the infra-red radiation that body emits. It's similar to those thermal imaging cameras I'm sure you've seen used on television, like the kind police helicopters use to spot a fleeing suspect by showing up their body heat against the cooler surroundings. The warmer something is, the more infra-red it emits, so by looking at planets in the infra-red spectrum a good estimate of surface temperature can be made. In the case of planets that have actually had probes sent to them, a direct measurement can be made.

As for storms on other planets, astronomers can watch the movement of features in their atmosphere and infer wind speeds from watching how far and how fast they move. In the case of Neptune, cloud formations have been observed circling the planet in a matter of hours, indicating very high wind speeds propelling them. Again, probes have been sent to some of the planets to make direct observations.

Astronomy is a matter of inferring details from what can be observed about distant astronomical bodies, then improving those measurements and models as technology and techniques improve.

Answer 2

we do not use any kind of thermometer or anything. we acctualy observe the light spectra from that source(ex. planet) and then come up with a number.

Answer 3

Actually, it is a pretty intelligent question -- or rather, a set of questions.  Temperatures on Venus have been measured by analysis of the light spectrum from it, and by space probes that have gone into its atmosphere.  The Venera 4 probe go to Venus on June 12, 1967, and Venera 10 actually landed on June 14, 1975.  There have been many other space probes to Venus.

Answer 4

I'm not certain myself, but here goes with my best guesses.

The Gas giant planets have atmospheric feature (storms etc) and since we do know the sizes of the planets it would be a matter of geometry to figure out how fast something is moving across the surface. As to temperature that's I'm sure read by means of a telescope that is sensitive in the infared portion of the spectrum. Also, even though you didn't ask distances are calculated by how far the light from a source is red shifted.

Answer 5

As far as Venus, Russia has sent 7 probes (search for Venera landers) that landed on Venus in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that made direct measurements of many parameters, including air pressure and temperature.

In places we haven't sent actual probes to, such as distant planets or stars, we can  use spectrometry to deduce the temperatures.  If we take the light transmitted from a star, or reflected from a planet, we can pass it through a  prism that splits the light into colors. Each gas present will produce peaks and valleys on a graph representing the intensity of different colors, and this produces a certain "fingerprint" for that gas. When that gas is heated or cooled, the "fingerprint" peaks and valleys for that gas will fluctuate accordingly, and by comparing these peak and valley shifts to "fingerprints" that we have determined by heating and cooling that gas in laboratories, we can tell what temperature that gas is on the distant body.

A very similar method is used to determine how far a star is from Earth, and if there is (are) planet(s) orbiting a given star, and possible upper and lower limits of the mass of that (those) planet(s). (look up blue shift or red shift or blue/red shift, or "Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me")

To calculate wind speeds, basic trigonometry provides the answer. Because we know how far a given planet or moon is from Earth, we can derive the body's diameter based upon how "wide" that body looks from Earth. If we know how "wide" the body is (radius or diameter), and we watch how long it takes a certain feature in the clouds to move a given distance in relation to that "wideness", we can then ascertain the speed of the wind that is pushing that cloud across our field of view. A (rather simplified) example- if you know a house across the street is 100 feet wide, and a kid appears to pass in front of the house in about 30 seconds, you can tell the kid walks 100 feet in 30 seconds. Since there are 3600 seconds in an hour, the kid will walk 7200 feet in an hour, which is roughly less than 1.5 mph- kinda' slow for a walking speed, but I wanted to keep the math simple.

And, if you're willing to ask questions, you're smart enough. Just think- professional astronomers are paid to propose questions!

Ad astra, Stallion!