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Venera 16

Venera 16

Venera 15 and Venera 16 (Russian: Венера-15, Венера-16) were two identical spacecraft sent to Venus by the Soviet Union. Both unmanned orbiters were to map the surface of Venus using high resolution imaging systems. The spacecraft were identical and based on modifications to the earlier Venera space probes.

Mission profile

Venera 15 was launched on June 2 1983 at 02:38:39 UTC, and Venera 16 on June 7 1983 at 02:32:00 UTC. Venera 15 and Venera 16 both reached Venus' orbit (on October 10 1983 and October 14 1983 respectively). The two spacecraft were inserted into Venus orbit a day apart with their orbital planes shifted by an angle of approximately 4° relative to one another. This made it possible to reimage an area if necessary. Each spacecraft was in a nearly polar orbit with a periapsis ~1000 km, at 62°N latitude, and apoapsis ~65000 km, with an inclination ~90°, the orbital period being ~24 hours. In June 1984, Venus was at superior conjunction and passed behind the Sun as seen from Earth. No transmissions were possible, so the orbit of Venera 16 was rotated back 20° at this time to map the areas missed during this period. Together, the two spacecraft imaged the area from the north pole down to about 30°N latitude (i.e. approx. 25 % of Venus surface) over the 8 months of mapping operations.

Spacecraft structure

The Venera 15 and 16 spacecraft were identical and were based on modifications to the orbiter portions of the Venera 9 and Venera 14 probes. Each spacecraft consisted of a 5 m long cylinder with a 6 m diameter, 1.4 m tall parabolic dish antenna for the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at one end. A 1 meter diameter parabolic dish antenna for the radio altimeter was also located at this end. The electrical axis of the radio altimeter antenna was lined up with the axis of the cylinder. The electrical axis of the SAR deviated from the spacecraft axis by 10 degrees. During imaging, the radio altimeter would be lined up with the center of the planet (local vertical) and the SAR would be looking off to the side at 10 degrees. A bulge at the opposite end of the cylinder held fuel tanks and propulsion units. Two square solar arrays extended like wings from the sides of the cylinder. A 2.6 m radio dish antenna for communications was also attached to the side of the cylinder. The spacecraft each massed 4000 kg. Both Venera 15 and 16 were equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). A radar was necessary in this mission because nothing else would be able to penetrate the dense clouds of Venus. The probes were equipped with on board computers that saved the images until the entire image was complete.

External links


- http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1983-054A
Previous mission:
Venera 14		 Venera program Next mission:
Venera 16 was the last mission
Category:Venera programme

Russian language

Russian (Russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, ) is the most widely spoken language of Europe and the most widespread of the Slavic languages. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages, and is therefore related to Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, as well as the modern Germanic, Romance, and Celtic languages, including English, French, and Irish, respectively. Written examples are attested from the 10th century onwards. While it preserves much of its ancient synthetic-inflexional structure and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian exhibits a large stock of the international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. A language of great political importance in the 20th century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations. NOTE. Russian is written in a non-Latin script. All examples below are in the Cyrillic alphabet, with transcriptions in IPA.

Classification

Russian is a Slavic language in the Indo-European family. From the point of view of the spoken language, its closest relatives are Belarusian and Ukrainian, the other two national languages in the East Slavic group. In many places in Ukraine and Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably. The basic vocabulary, principles of word-formation, and, to some extent, inflexions and literary style of Russian have been influenced by Church Slavonic, a developed and partly adopted form of the South Slavic Old Church Slavonic language used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Many words in modern literary Russian are closer in form to the modern Bulgarian language than to Ukrainian or Belarusian. However, the East Slavic forms have tended to remain in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with slightly different meanings. For details, see Historical Sound Changes and History of the Russian language. Outside the Slavic languages, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have been greatly influenced by Greek, Latin, French, German, and English.

Geographic distribution

Russian is primarily spoken in Russia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the USSR. Until 1917, it was the sole official language of the Russian Empire. During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice. Though each of the constituent republics had its own official language, the unifying role and superior status was reserved for Russian. Following the break-up of 1991, several of the newly independent states have encouraged their native languages, which has partly reversed the privileged status of Russian, though its role as the language of post-Soviet national intercourse throughout the region has continued. In Latvia, notably, its official recognition and legality in the classroom have been a topic of considerable debate in a country where more than third of the population is Russian-speaking, consisting mostly of post-World War II immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former USSR (Belarus, Ukraine). Similarly, in Estonia, the Soviet-era immigrants and their Russian-speaking descendants constitute about one quarter of the country's current population. A much smaller Russian-speaking minority in Lithuania has largely been assimilated during the decade of independence and currently represent less than 1/10 of the country's overall population. In the twentieth century it was widely taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR, especially in Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. However, younger generations are usually not fluent in it, because Russian is no longer mandatory in the school system. It was, and still is, widely taught in Asian countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Mongolia due to Soviet influence, and is still used as a lingua franca in Afghanistan by various tribes. Russian is also spoken in Israel by at least 750,000 ethnic Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (1999 census). The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian. Sizeable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America (especially in large urban centers of the US and Canada such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Miami, and Chicago). In the first two of them, Russian-speaking groups total over half a million. In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, live in their self-sufficient neighborhoods (especially the generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early sixties). It is important to note, however, that only about a quarter of them are ethnic Russians. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union the overwhelming majority were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterwards the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union changed the statistics somewhat. According to the United States 2000 Census, Russian was reported as language spoken at home by 1.50% of population, or about 4.2 million, placing it as #10 language in the United States. Significant Russian-speaking groups also exist in Western Europe. These have been fed by several waves of immigrants since the beginning of the twentieth century, each with its own flavour of language. Germany, Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, and Greece have significant Russian-speaking communities totaling 3 million people. Two thirds of them are actually Russian-speaking descendants of Germans, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, or Ukrainians who either repatriated after the USSR collapsed or are just looking for temporary employment. But many are well-off Russian families acquiring property and getting education. Earlier, the descendants of the Russian émigrés tended to lose the tongue of their ancestors by the third generation. Now, when the border is more open, Russian is likely to survive longer, especially when many of the emigrants visit their homelands at least once a year and also have access to Russian websites and TV channels. Recent estimates of the total number of speakers of Russian:

Official status

Russian is the official language of Russia, and an official language of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine) and the unrecognized Moldovan Republic of Transnistria. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a popular choice for many of the both native and RSL (Russian as a second language) speakers in Russia and many of the former Soviet republics. 97% of the public school students of Russia, 75% in Belarus, 41% in Kazakhstan, 24% in Ukraine, 23% in Kyrgyzstan, 21% in Moldova, 7% in Azerbaijan, 5% in Georgia received their education only or mostly in Russian, although the corresponding percentage of ethnic Russians was 80% in Russia, 11% in Belarus, 27% in Kazakhstan, 17% in Ukraine, 9% in Kyrgyzstan, 6% in Moldova, 2% in Azerbaijan, 1.5% in Georgia.

Dialects

Despite levelling after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary, a large number of dialects exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of the Russian language into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with Moscow lying on the zone of transition between the two. Others divide the language into three groupings, Northern, Central and Southern, with Moscow lying in the Central region. Dialectology within Russia recognizes dozens of smaller-scale variants. The dialects often show distinct and non-standard features of pronunciation and intonation, vocabulary, and grammar. Some of these are relics of ancient usage now completely discarded by the standard language. Also cf. Moscow pronunciation of "-чн-", e.g. "булошная" (buloshnaya - bakery) instead of "булочная" (bulochnaya). The northern dialects typically pronounce unstressed clearly (the phenomenon called okanye оканье); the southern palatalize the final and aspirate the into . It should be noted that some of these features are also present in modern Ukrainian, indicating a linguistic continuum or strong influence one way or the other. Among the first to study Russian dialects was Lomonosov in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth, Vladimir Dal compiled the first dictionary that included dialectal vocabulary. Detailed mapping of Russian dialects began at the turn of the twentieth century. In modern times, the monumental Dialectological Atlas of the Russian Language (Диалектологический атлас русского языка ), was published in 3 folio volumes 1986-1989, after four decades of preparatory work. The standard language is based on the Moscow dialect.

Derived languages


- Fenia or Fenka, a criminal lingo of ancient origin, with Russian grammar, but with distinct vocabulary.
- Surzhyk is a Ukrainian-Russian pidgin spoken in some rural areas of Ukraine
- Trasianka is a Belarusian-Russian mix (sort of pidgin) used by a large portion of the rural population in Belarus.
- Russenorsk is an extinct pidgin language with Russian vocabulary and Norwegian grammar, used for communication between Russians and Norwegians in Svalbard and Kola Peninsula.
- Runglish: Russian-English pidgin.

Writing system

Alphabet

Runglish publication describing the "Slavonic" language.]] Russian is written using a modified version of the Cyrillic (кириллица) alphabet, consisting of 33 letters. The following table gives their majuscule forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound: Old letters that have been abolished at one time or another but occur in this and related articles include or , і , and or . The yers ъ and ь were originally pronounced as ultra-short or reduced , (conventional transcription, not IPA). For information on an informal approach on transliterating Russian into English, see the article Transliteration of Russian into English.

Orthography

Russian spelling is reasonably phonetic in practice. It is in fact a balance among phonetics, morphology, etymology, and grammar, and, like that of most living languages, has its share of inconsistencies and controversial points. The current spelling follows the major reform of 1918, and the final codification of 1956. An update proposed in the late 1990's has met a hostile reception, and has not been formally adopted. The punctuation, originally based on Byzantine Greek, was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reformulated on the French and German models.

Sounds

The phonological system of Russian is inherited from Common Slavonic, but underwent considerable modification in the early historical period, before being largely settled by about 1400. The language possesses five vowels, which are written with different letters depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is palatalized. The consonants typically come in plain vs. palatalized pairs, which are traditionally called hard and soft. (The 'hard' consonants are sometimes said to be velarized, but this is only the case for /l/.) The standard language, based on the Moscow dialect, possesses heavy stress and moderate variation in pitch. Stressed vowels are somewhat drawled, while unstressed vowels (except /u/) tend to be reduced to an unclear schwa. Russian syllable structure can be quite complex with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to 4 consecutive sounds. Using a formula with V standing for the nucleus (vowel) and C for each consonant the stucture can be described as follows: (C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)

Consonants

Russian is notable for its distinction based on palatalization of most of the consonants. While /k/, /ɡ/, /x/ do have palatalized allophones , only might be considered a phoneme, though it is marginal and generally not considered distinctive. It should be noted that palatalization is a phonological concept, and not all 'soft' consonants are phonetically palatalized. The velar and labial consonants are truly palatalized, which means that the center of the tongue is raised during and after the articulation of the consonant. The coronal stops, however, are phonetically laminal. In addition, in the case of /t/ and /d/, the tongue is raised enough to produce frication, thus making affricate-like. (There is no contrast between frication and no frication, though, as /ts/ is never palatalized.) are postalveolar with a flat tongue (laminal retroflex).

Grammar

Russian has preserved an Indo-European synthetic-inflexional structure, although considerable levelling has taken place. Russian grammar encompasses
- a highly synthetic morphology
- a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements:
  - a polished vernacular foundation;
  - a Church Slavonic inheritance;
  - a Western European style. The spoken language has been influenced by the literary, but continues to preserve characteristic forms. The dialects show various non-standard grammatical features, some of which are archaisms or descendants of old forms since discarded by the literary language.

Vocabulary

Western European See History of Russian language for an account of the successive foreign influences on the Russian language. The total number of words in Russian is difficult to reckon because of the ability to agglutinate and create manifold compounds, diminutives, etc. (see Word Formation under Russian grammar). The number of listed words or entries in some of the major dictionaries published during the last two centuries, and the total vocabulary of Pushkin, are as follows: Philologists have estimated that the language today may contain as many as 350,000 to 500,000 words. (As a historical aside, Dahl was, in the second half of the nineteenth century, still insisting that the proper spelling of the adjective русский, which was at that time applied uniformly to all the Orthodox Eastern Slavic subjects of the Empire, as well as to its one official language, be spelled руский with one s, in accordance with ancient tradition and what he termed the "spirit of the language". He was contradicted by the philologist Grot, who distinctly heard the s lengthened or doubled.)

The language of abuse and invective

Main article: Mat (language) Apparently, the ability to curse effectively has always been recognized as a form of art not only in certain quarters of society, but even by the more conservative-minded literati. For example, as far back as in the nineteenth-century naval yarns of Staniukovich, "artistic invective" (артистическая ругань ) keeps coming out of the sailors' mouths, though it is never spelled out. The ability to agglutinate has produced the so-called "three-decker curse" (трёхэтажный мат ).

Proverbs and sayings

Main article: Russian proverbs, Russian sayings Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs (пословица ) and sayings (поговоркa ). These were already tabulated by the seventeenth century, and collected and studied in the nineteenth and twentieth, with the folk-tales being an especially fertile source.

History and examples

See also: Reforms of Russian orthography The history of Russian language may be divided into the following periods.
- Origins
- The Kievan period (9th-11th centuries)
- Feudal breakup (12th-14th centuries)
- The Moscovite period (15th-17th centuries)
- Empire (18th-19th centuries)
- Soviet period and beyond (20th century) See also:
- Examples of literary language (12-20th century) Judging by the historical records, by approximately 1000 AD the predominant ethnic group over much of modern European Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus was the Eastern branch of the Slavs, speaking a closely related group of dialects. The political unification of this region into Kievan Rus, from which both modern Russia and Ukraine trace their origins, was soon followed by the adoption of Christianity in 988-9 and the establishment of Old Church Slavonic as the liturgical and literary language. Borrowings and calques from Byzantine Greek began to enter the vernacular at this time, and simultaneously the literary language began to be modified in its turn to become more nearly Eastern Slavic. Dialectal differentiation accelerated after the breakup of Kievan Rus' in approximately 1100, and the Mongol conquest of the thirteenth century. After the disestablishment of the "Tartar yoke" in the late fourteenth century, both the political centre and the predominant dialect in European Russia came to be based in Moscow. There is some consensus that Russian and Ukrainian can be considered distinct languages from this period at the latest. The official language remained a kind of Church Slavonic until the close of the seventeenth century, but, despite attempts at standardization, as by Meletius Smotrytsky c. 1620, its purity was by then strongly compromised by an incipient secular literature. The political reforms of Peter the Great were accompanied by a reform of the alphabet, and achieved their goal of secularization and Westernization. Blocks of specialized vocabulary were adopted from the languages of Western Europe. By 1800, a significant portion of the gentry spoke French, less often German, on an everyday basis. The modern literary language is usually considered to date from the time of Alexander Pushkin in the first third of the nineteenth century. The political upheavals of the early twentieth century and the wholesale changes of political ideology gave written Russian its modern appearance after the spelling reform of 1918. Political circumstances and Soviet accomplishments in military, scientific, and technological matters (especially cosmonautics), gave Russian a world-wide if occasionally grudging prestige, especially during the middle third of the twentieth century. Since the collapse of 1990-91, fashion for ways and things Western, economic uncertainties and difficulties within the educational system have made for inevitable rapid change in the language. Russian today is a tongue in great flux.

References

The following serve as references for both this article and the related articles listed below that describe the Russian language:

In English


- B. Comrie, G. Stone, M. Polinsky, The Russian Language in the Twentieth Century, 2nd. ed. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996
- W.K. Matthews, Russian Historical Grammar, London, University of London, Athlone Press, 1960
- T.R. Carleton, Introduction to the Phonological History of the Slavic Languages, Columbus, Ohio : Slavica Publishers, 1991
- A. Stender-Petersen, Anthology of old Russian literature, New York, Columbia University Press, 1954

In Russian


- Иванов В.В. Историческая грамматика русского языка. "Просвещение", М., 1990.
- Цыганенко Г. П. Этимологический словарь русского языка. Киев, 1970.
- Т. Н. Михельсон, Рассказы русских летописей XV–XVII веков. М., 1978
- Н.М. Шанский, В.В. Иванов, Т.В. Шанская. Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка. М. 1961.
- А. Шицгал, Русский гражданский шрифт, "Исскуство", Москва, 1958, 2-e изд. 1983.
- Л. П. Жуковская, отв. ред. Древнерусский литературный язык и его отношение к старославянскому. М., «Наука», 1987. Many further references are listed in the books above.

See also

Language description


- Russian alphabet
- Russian grammar
- Russian orthography
- Russian phonetics
- History of Russian language

Related languages


- East Slavic languages
- Church Slavonic language
- Great Russian language
- Old Church Slavonic language
- Old Russian language

Other


- List of Russian language topics
- List of English words of Russian origin
- Russian literature
- Russian humour
- Russian proverbs
- Reforms of Russian orthography
- Transliteration of Russian into English
- Volapuk encoding
- Non-native pronunciations of English
- List of commonly confused homonyms in Russian
- Common phrases in different languages
- Runglish

External links


- [http://www.declan-software.com/russian Russian language learning software]
- [http://www.russianlessons.net/ Online Russian language lessons]
- [http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?k1=81 All free Russian dictionaries]
- [http://overstuffed-closet.net/russian The Russian Language Fanlisting]
- [http://www.speakrus.ru/dict/ Free downloadable vocabularies of the Russian language]
- [http://RusWin.net Cyrillic (Russian)]
- [http://www.masterrussian.com MasterRussian.com - vocabulary words and phrases, tips, hand-picked links]
- [http://www.ifstudio-translations.com/ Free Russian translations.]
- [http://tinyurl.com/5lhlp Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary of Russian language]
- [http://www.masterrussian.net/mforum Russian Language Forum. A large community interested in Russian]
- [http://www.gramota.ru "GRAMOTA". An educational/reference site on the Russian language, supported by the Russian government. (In Russian)]
- [http://www.lib.ru "Moshkov's library". A large collection of classical and modern Russian e-texts. (In Russian)]
- [http://www.languagehelpers.com/Russian/TheRussianAlphabet.html Russian alphabet with sound (languagehelpers.com)]
- [http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/ Reference Grammar]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Russian-english/ Russian - English Dictionary]
- [http://www.lorem-ipsum.info/_russian Generator for Russian typographical filler text]
- [http://www.andaman.org/book/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm G. Weber, "Top Languages"]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=rus SIL Ethnologue Report for Russian]
- [http://www.linguarus.com Russian for Everybody (Self-Learning)]
- [http://www.applelanguages.com/en/learn/russian.php Russian courses]
- [http://dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Indo-European/Slavic/Russian/ ODP Russian Language category]
- [http://www.language-usa.com/ Russian Translation USA]
- [http://runglish1.narod.ru Runglish]
- [http://www.orlandorussians.com/ Russian Language Groups in America]
- [http://www.russki-mat.net/ Multilingual Russian slang dictionaries]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Russian-english/ Russian English Dictionary] from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition Category:Languages of Belarus Category:Languages of Finland Category:Languages of Russia Category:Languages of Ukraine Category:Languages of Kazakhstan Category:Languages of Georgia Category:Languages of Armenia Category:Languages of Azerbaijan Category:Languages of Turkmenistan Category:Languages of Uzbekistan Category:Languages of Moldova Category:Languages of Tajikistan Category:Languages of Kyrgyzstan Category:Languages of Estonia Category:Languages of Latvia Category:Languages of Lithuania Category:Languages of China Category:Languages of Mongolia Category:Languages of Afghanistan Category:Languages of Bulgaria Category:Russian language Category:East Slavic languages ko:러시아어 ms:Bahasa Russia ja:ロシア語 simple:Russian language th:ภาษารัสเซีย

Venus (Planet)

Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is named after the Roman goddess Venus. A terrestrial planet, it is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet", as the two are very similar in size and bulk composition. Although all planets' orbits are elliptical, Venus's orbit is the closest to circular, with an eccentricity of less than 1%. As Venus is closer to the Sun than the Earth, it always appears in roughly the same direction from Earth as the Sun (the greatest elongation is 47.8°), so on Earth it can usually only be seen a few hours before sunrise or a few hours after sunset. However, when at its brightest, Venus may be seen during the daytime, making it one of only two heavenly bodies that can be seen both day and night (the other being the Moon). It is sometimes referred to as the "Morning Star" or the "Evening Star", and when it is visible in dark skies it is by far the brightest star-like object in the sky. The cycle between one maximum elongation and the next lasts 584 days. After these 584 days Venus is visible in a position 72 degrees away from the previous one. Since 5
- 584 = 2920, which is equivalent to 8
- 365 Venus returns to the same point in the sky every 8 years (minus two leap days). This was known as the Sothis cycle in ancient Egypt, and was familiar to the Maya as well. Another association is with the Moon, because 2920 days equal almost exactly 99 lunations (29.5
- 99 = 2920.5). Venus has a very slow retrograde rotation, meaning that, unlike with most planets, the direction of rotation (around its axis) is the opposite of its orbital rotation (around the Sun). The very slow rotation means that the distinction between the Sidereal day (rotation relative to the stars) and the Solar day (relative to the Sun) is very significant. Solar day The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers. When viewed from Earth, the successive conjunctions of Venus plot the points of a pentagram around the Sun every eight years, returning to its starting point after a forty year cycle. Venus was known to ancient Babylonians around 1600 BC, and to the Mayan civilization (the Mayans developed a religious calendar based on Venus's motion) and must have been known long before in prehistoric times, given that it is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. The Maasai people in Africa named the planet Kileken, and have a myth about it called "The Orphan Boy." The Morning Star was called the Bearer of Light ("phōsphoros" or "eōsphoros" in Greek and "Lucifer" in Latin, a term later used of the fallen angel cast out of heaven, see Isaiah 14:12). To the Jews it was known as Noga ("shining") and it was used in rabbinic literature as a symbol of beauty and purity Isaiah Its symbol is the sign also used in biology for the female sex, a stylized representation of the goddess Venus's hand mirror: a circle with a small cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). The Venus symbol also represents femininity, and in ancient alchemy stood for copper. Alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle (representing spirit) above a cross (representing matter). The association with sex and femininity is supposed to relate to the period of 266 days between the conjunction and maximum elongation of Venus, which corresponds more or less to the length of human pregnancy. The adjective Venusian is commonly used for Venus, but it is etymologically incorrect. The true adjective coming from Latin, Venereal, is avoided because of its modern association with sexually transmitted diseases. Some astronomers use Cytherean, which comes from Cythera. Other less common adjectives include Venerean, Venerian, and Veneran. The Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as the metal star, 金星, based on the Five Elements.

Physical characteristics

Atmosphere

Venus has an atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide and a small amount of nitrogen, with a pressure at the surface about 90 times that of Earth (a pressure equivalent to a depth of 1 kilometer under Earth's oceans); its atmosphere is also roughly 90 times more massive than ours. This enormously CO2-rich atmosphere results in a strong greenhouse effect that raises the surface temperature more than 400 °C (750 °F) above what it would be otherwise, causing temperatures at the surface to reach extremes as great as 500 °C (930 °F) in low elevation regions near the planet's equator. This makes Venus's surface hotter than Mercury's, even though Venus is nearly twice as distant from the Sun and only receives 25% of the solar irradiance (2613.9 W/m² in the upper atmosphere, and just 1071.1 W/m² at the surface). Owing to the thermal inertia and convection of its dense atmosphere, the temperature does not vary significantly between the night and day sides of Venus despite its extremely slow rotation of less than one rotation per Venusian year, meaning that, at the equator, Venus' surface rotates at a mere 6.5 km/h (4 mph). Upper atmosphere winds circling the planet approximately every 4 days help distribute the heat to other areas on the surface. The solar irradiance is so much lower at the surface of Venus because the planet's thick cloud cover reflects the majority of the sunlight back into space. This prevents most of the sunlight from ever heating the surface. Venus's bolometric albedo is approximately 60%, and its visual light albedo is even greater. Thus, despite being closer to the Sun than Earth, the surface of Venus is not as well heated and even less well lit by the Sun. In the absence of any greenhouse effect, the temperature at the surface of Venus would be quite similar to Earth. A common conceptual misunderstanding regarding Venus is the mistaken belief that its thick cloud cover traps heat, as the opposite is actually true. The cloud cover keeps the planet much cooler than it would be otherwise. The immense quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere is what traps the heat by the greenhouse mechanism. There are strong 300 km/h (200 mph) winds at the cloud tops, but winds at the surface are very slow, no more than a few miles per hour. However, owing to the high density of the atmosphere at Venus's surface, even such slow winds exert a significant amount of force against obstructions. The clouds are mainly composed of sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid droplets and cover the planet completely, obscuring any surface details from the human eye. The temperature at the tops of these clouds is approximately −45 °C (−50 °F). The mean surface temperature of Venus, as given by NASA, is 464 °C (864 °F). The minimal value of the temperature, listed in the table, refers to cloud tops —the surface temperature is never below 400 °C (750 °F). (This makes the surface temperature hot enough to melt lead.) The atmosphere also contains hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbonyl sulfide (SCO). Hydrogen sulfide reacts with sulfur dioxide, which implies that some process must be creating these components. It is unclear how the carbonyl sulfide could be formed--it is often a sign of biological activity. Some have suggested that microbes exist in the clouds (which also contain droplets of water), and produce these components from water, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17523621.800.html New Scientist, Sept. 28, 2002, p. 16]

Surface features

sulfur dioxide Venus has slow retrograde rotation, meaning it rotates from east to west, instead of west to east as most of the other major planets do. (Pluto and Uranus also have retrograde rotation, though Uranus's axis, tilted at 97.86 degrees, almost lies in its orbital plane.) It is not known why Venus is different in this manner, although it may be the result of a collision with a very large asteroid at some time in the distant past. If the Sun could be seen from Venus' surface, it would appear to rise and set in a 116.75 day cycle (Venus' synodic rotation period), and a Venusian year would thus last 1.92 Venusian "days". In addition to this unusual retrograde rotation, the periods of Venus' rotation and of its orbit are synchronized in such a way that it always presents the same face toward Earth when the two planets are at their closest approach (5.001 Venusian days between each inferior conjunction). This may simply be a coincidence, but there is some speculation that this may be the result of tidal locking, with tidal forces affecting Venus' rotation whenever the planets get close enough together —although the tides raised by Earth on Venus are vanishingly small. Venus has two major continent-like highlands on its surface, rising over vast plains. The northern highland is named Ishtar Terra and has Venus's highest mountains, named the Maxwell Montes (roughly 2 km taller than Mount Everest) after James Clerk Maxwell, which surround the plateau Lakshmi Planum. Ishtar Terra is about the size of Australia. In the southern hemisphere is the larger Aphrodite Terra, about the size of South America. Between these highlands are a number of broad depressions, including Atalanta Planitia, Guinevere Planitia, and Lavinia Planitia. With only the exception of Maxwell Montes, all surface features on Venus are named after real or mythological females. Venus' thick atmosphere causes meteors to decelerate as they fall toward the surface, and even large meteors will strike the surface at too low a speed to form an impact crater if they have less than a certain threshold kinetic energy. Because of this, no impact crater smaller than about 3 km (2 mi) in diameter can form. Nearly 90% of Venus's surface appears to consist of recently (in the geological sense) solidified basaltic lava, with very few meteorite craters. The oldest features present on Venus seem to be only around 800 million years old, with most of the terrain being considerably younger (though still not less than several hundred million years for the most part). This suggests that Venus underwent a major resurfacing event in the not too distant geological past. The interior of Venus is probably similar to that of Earth: an iron core about 3000 km in radius, with a molten rocky mantle making up the majority of the planet. Recent results from the Magellan gravity data indicate that Venus's crust is stronger and thicker than had previously been assumed. It is theorized that Venus does not have mobile plate tectonics as Earth does, but instead undergoes massive volcanic upwellings at regular intervals that inundate its surface with fresh lava. Other recent findings suggest that Venus is still volcanically active in isolated geological hotspots. Venus's intrinsic magnetic field has been found very weak compared to other planets in the solar system. This may be due to its slow rotation being insufficient to drive an internal dynamo of liquid iron. As a result, solar wind strikes Venus's upper atmosphere without mediation. It is thought that Venus originally had as much water as Earth, but that under the Sun's assault water vapor in the upper atmosphere was split into hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen escaping into space owing to its low molecular mass; the ratio of hydrogen to deuterium (a heavier isotope of hydrogen which doesn't escape as quickly) in Venus's atmosphere seems to support this theory. Molecular oxygen is thought to have combined with atoms in the crust (large amounts of oxygen, however, remain in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide). Because of their dryness, Venus's rocks are much harder than Earth's, which leads to steeper mountains, cliffs and other features.

Venus' moon

Venus was once thought to possess a moon, named Neith after the chief goddess of Sais, Egypt (whose veil no mortal raised), first observed by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1672. German astronomers called the moon Kleinchen (literally "tiny"), and sporadic sightings by astronomers continued until 1892. These sightings have since been discredited, and are thought to have been either spurious internal reflections, mostly faint stars that happened to be in the right place at the right time, or maybe even asteroids passing by the planet. Venus is now known to be moonless.

Observations and explorations of Venus

Venus has been observed several times within the past 4000 years by a number of people, including the Greeks.

Appearance

Cultural references

:See also Venus in fiction Until it was penetrated by probes, Venus's opaque cloud layer gave science fiction writers free rein in imagining the planet's surface, and they frequently imagined it to be Earthlike. There are some religious sects who believe that Hell may be located on Venus. Its extremely high surface temperature and impenetrable cloud cover cause people to believe that the fires of Hell burn on the surface, obscured from our earthly view. Conversely, other sects consider Venus to be some form of paradise or an advanced secret base for angels/aliens to operate from.
- In Olaf Stapledon's epic Last and First Men (1930), Venus is an oceanic idyll where humans evolve the power of flight.
- In the mythology of Middle-earth (1937), by J. R. R. Tolkien, Venus is the Star of Eärendil. The star was created when Eärendil the Mariner was set in the sky on his ship, with a Silmaril bound to his brow. In fact, Tolkien chose the name directly from the ancient Old English word for the planet Venus.
- In H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos (1928–), there are mentions of the 'Lords of Venus', and conflicting indications that the Serpent People originated there.
- Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a series of five books on Venus, featuring hero Carson Napier, who discovers that Venus (or Amtor, as it is known by the Venusians) is a world of sky-high trees, warring kingdoms and princesses in need of rescue. [http://www.tarzan.com/worlds/amtor.html]
- The H. P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling short story 'In the Walls of Eryx' (1939), takes place on Venus, but is not considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos.
- The second book of the Space Trilogy (1938–1945) by C.S. Lewis, Perelandra 1943) takes place on Venus (called by the natives Perelandra), the site of a second garden of Eden.
- In the military science fiction classic Clash by Night (1943) by Henry Kuttner (writing as Lawrence O'Donnell) and C. L. Moore, underwater city-states hire mercenary companies and their battleships to fight their wars on the surface.
- Venus was the home planet of the Mekon, arch-enemy of the 1950s comic book hero Dan Dare.
- Many science-fiction movies and serials of the '50s and '60s, such as Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and Space Patrol, have used Venus' namesake goddess and her domain to contrive planetary populations of nubile women welcoming (or attacking) all-male astronaut crews.
- In the Noon Universe created by the Soviet science fiction writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Venus is depicted as a extremely harsh planet covered by strange flora and fauna but also very rich in minerals and heavy metals. The novel The Land of Crimson Clouds (Strana Bagrovykh Tuch in the original) describes the first successful manned mission to Venus, although a full-scaled colonization of the planet was not initiated until much later (in 2119; see Noon: 22nd Century).
- Venus is the location of several Starfleet Academy training facilities and terraforming stations in the fictional Star Trek universe (1966–).
- In Jacqueline Susann's Yargo (1979), Venus is inhabited by bees that are as big as horses.
- Venus is briefly mentioned in Arthur C. Clarke's 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997).
- A presumably terraformed Venus was the setting of one episode of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998). In the show, Venus was revealed to be an arid but habitable world. Much of the population lived in floating cities in the sky. In the cartoon Exosquad, terraformed Venus was portrayed as one of the three habitable planets in the solar system (the others being Earth and Mars).
- In the Japanese anime series, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (1992), Sailor Venus is a soldier representing the planet of the same name. In mythology, Venus is the Roman goddess of love (Aphrodite in Greek), therefore, Sailor Venus's attacks and weapons (e.g. Venus Love Me Chain and Venus Love and Beauty Shock) represent the idea of love and femininity. Her image colours are gold and orange--similar to the colour of the planet. Also, on her forehead is the planet's symbol.
- A more scientifically accurate depiction of the planet is offered in Ben Bova's novel Venus (2000, ISBN 031287216X)-

See also


- List of artificial objects on Venus
- List of mountains on Venus
- List of craters on Venus
- Transit of Venus
- Venus (mythology)
- Planets in astrology
- Ephemeris of Venus
- Geology of Venus

References


- Arnett, Bill (2005). [http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html Venus]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- European Space Agency (2005). [http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/ Venus Express overview]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- Grayzeck, Ed (2004). [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html Venus Fact Sheet]. NASA. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- Grieger, Bjoern (2004). [http://www.space-vision.biz/product.venuslandscape.de.html Picture “Real Venus”]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- The Maya Astronomy Page (2002). [http://www.michielb.nl/maya/venus.html Venus]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- Mitchell, Don P. (2004). [http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm The Soviet Exploration of Venus]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- Rosenthal, David. (2003). [http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~n6tst/maya/newpage.html THE SOUTHERNMOST RISE OF VENUS AT UXMAL, 1997]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- Vienna University of Technology (2004). [http://www.vias.org/spacetrip/venus_dimensionalviews.html Venus Three-Dimensional Views]. Retrieved March 27, 2005.
- [http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1996JBAA..106...16M]
- [http://www.ibiblio.org//e-notes/VRML/Globe/Globe.htm 3D VRML Venus globe]
- [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html Venus Fact Sheet]
Pentagram

- http://www.mikecrowson.co.uk/pentagram.html
- http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/29/2914.html
- http://www.hyperflight.com/venus-five-pointed-star.htm
- [http://www.run4space.com/viewforum.php?f=8 Venus Forum]
- ko:금성 ms:Zuhrah ja:金星 simple:Venus (planet) th:ดาวศุกร์

Venera

The Venera (Russian: Венера; formerly, sometimes referred to as Venusik in the West) series of probes was developed by the USSR for the gathering of data from Venus. As with some of the USSR's other planetary probes they were launched in pairs with a second vehicle being launched soon (a week or two) after the first of the pair. Among the other results, probes of the series became the first man-made devices to enter the atmosphere of another planet, to make the soft landing on another planet, to return the images from the planetary surface and to perform high-resolution radar mapping studies of the Venus. So, the entire series could be considered as highly successful. Unfortunately, while Venus' orbit is closer to Earth than Mars, its surface conditions were far more extreme, which often meant that the probes did not survive long. The Venera 3 to 6 probes were similar. Weighing approximately one ton and launched by the Molniya type booster rocket, they included a cruise "bus" and a spherical atmospheric entry probe. The probe was optimised for atmospheric measurements and not equipped with any special landing apparatus, although it was hoped they would reach the surface still functioning. The bus entered the atmosphere with the entry probe and burned up. The probes transmitted directly to Earth. The Venera 7 probe was the first one designed to sustain Venus surface conditions and to make the soft landing. Scientific output of the mission was limited due to internal switchboard failure, though the control succeeded in recovering of the pressure and temperature data, which resulted from the first direct surface measurements. The Doppler measurements of Venera 4 to 7 probes were the first evidence of the existence of high-speed zonal winds (up to 100 m/s) in the Venus atmosphere (superrotation). The Venera 8 was equipped with the extended set of scientific instruments for the surface studying (gamma-spectrometer etc.). The cruise bus of Venera 7, 8 was similar to that of earlier ones, with the design ascending to Zond 3 mission. The Venera 9 to 14 probes were of a different design. superrotation They weighed approximately five tons and were launched by the powerful Proton booster. They included a transfer and relay bus that had engines to brake into Venus orbit (Venera 9 and 10, 15 and 16) and to serve as receiver and relay for the entry probe's transmissions. The entry probe was attached to the top of the bus in a spherical heat shield. The probes were optimized for surface operations with an unusual looking design that included a spherical compartment to protect electronics from atmospheric pressure and heat for as long as possible. Beneath this was a shock absorbing "crush ring" for landing. Above the pressure sphere were a cylindrical antenna structure and a wide dish shaped structure that resembles an antenna but is actually an aerobrake. They were designed to operate on the surface for a minimum of 30 minutes. Instruments varied on different missions, but included cameras and atmospheric and soil analysis equipment. Veneras 15 and 16 were similar but replaced the entry probes with surface imaging radar equipment. The Vega probes to Venus and comet Halley launched in 1985 also used this basic Venera design, including landers but also atmospheric balloons which relayed data for about two days. The Venera 9 and 10 landers had two cameras each. Only one functioned because the lens covers failed to separate from the second camera on each lander. The design was changed for Veneras 11 and 12, but this made the problem worse and all cameras failed on those missions. Veneras 13 and 14 were the only landers on which all cameras worked properly. The external link at the bottom of the page shows all lander imagery.
- 1VA (proto-Venera) - Flyby - launched February 4, 1961 : Failed to leave earth orbit
- Venera 1 - Flyby - launched February 12, 1961 : Communications lost en route to Venus
- Venera 2 - Flyby - launched November 12, 1965 : Communications lost just before arival
- Venera 3 - Atmospheric Probe - launched November 16, 1965 : Communications lost just before atmospheric entry. This was the first manmade object to land on another planet on March 1966 (crash). Probable landing region : -20º to 20º N, 60º to 80º E.
- Kosmos 96/Venera 4 - Atmospheric Probe - launched November 23, 1965 : Failed to leave Earth orbit, and reentered the atmosphere. Believed by some researchers to have crashed near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965, an event which became known as the "Kecksburg Incident" among UFO researchers. All Soviet spacecraft that never left Earth orbit were customarily renamed "Kosmos" regardless of the craft's intended mission.
- Venera 4 - Atmospheric Probe - launched June 12, 1967 : Arrived October 18, 1967 and was the first probe to enter another planet's atmosphere and return data. Although it did not transmit from the surface, this was the first interplanetary broadcast of any probe. Landed somewhere near latitude 19° N, longitude 38° E.
- Venera 5 - Atmospheric Probe - launched January 5, 1969 : Arrived May 16, 1969 and successfully returned atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure within 26km of the surface. Landed at 3° S, 18° E.
- Venera 6 - Atmospheric Probe - launched January 10, 1969 : Arrived May 17, 1969 and successfully returned atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure within 11km of the surface. Landed at 5° S, 23° E.
- Venera 7 - Lander - launched August 17, 1970 : Arrived December 15, 1970, was the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet and survived for 23 minutes before succumbing to the heat and pressure. This was the first broadcast from another planet's surface. Landed at 5° S, 351° E.
- Venera 8 - Lander - launched March 27, 1972 : Arrived July 22, 1972 and survived for 50 minutes before succumbing to the heat and pressure. Landed within a 150 km radius of 10.70° S, 335.25° E.
- Venera 9 - Orbiter and Lander - launched June 8, 1975 : Arrived October 22, 1975, sent back the first (black and white) images of Venus' surface while the lander survived 53 minutes before succumbing to the heat and pressure. Landed within a 150km radius of 31.01° N, 291.64° E.
- Venera 10 - Orbiter and Lander - launched June 14, 1975 : Arrived October 25, 1975, the lander surviving 65 minutes before succumbing to the heat and pressure. Landed within a 150 km radius of 15.42° N, 291.51° E.
- Venera 11 - Flyby and Lander - launched September 9, 1978 : Arrived December 25, 1978, the lander survived for 95 minutes; however the imaging systems had failed. Landed at 14° S 299° E.
- Venera 12 - Flyby and Lander - launched September 14, 1978 : Arrived December 21, 1978, the lander surviving for 110 minutes and recorded what is thought to be lightning. Landed at 7° S 294° E.
- Venera 13 - Flyby and Lander - launched October 30, 1981 : Arrived March 1, 1982, returned the first colour images of Venus' surface and discovered leucite basalt in a soil sample using a spectrometer. Landed at 7.5° S, 303° E
- Venera 14 - Flyby and Lander - launched November 14, 1981 : Arrived March 5, 1982, a soil sample revealed tholeiitic basalt (similar to that found on Earth's mid-ocean ridges). Landed at 13.25° S, 310° E.
- Venera 15 - Orbiter - launched June 2, 1983 : Arrived October 10, 1983 and mapped (along with Venera 16) the northern hemisphere down to 30 degrees from North (resolution 1-2km)
- Venera 16 - Orbiter - launched June 7, 1983 : Arrived October 14, 1983 and mapped (along with Venera 15) the northern hemisphere down to 30 degrees from North (resolution 1-2km) Venera is the Russian name for Venus.

External links


- [http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm The Soviet Exploration of Venus]
- [http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm Catalog of Soviet Venus images]
- [http://pages.preferred.com/%7Etedstryk/venera.html Venera 9 and 10 images of Venus]
- [http://pages.preferred.com/%7Etedstryk/venerab.html Venera 13 images of Venus]
- [ftp://ftp.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/ejasa/1993/jasa9302.txt The Soviets and Venus, Part 1 of 3, by Larry Klaes]
- [ftp://ftp.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/ejasa/1993/jasa9303.txt The Soviets and Venus, Part 2 of 3, by Larry Klaes]
- [ftp://ftp.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/ejasa/1993/jasa9304.txt The Soviets and Venus, Part 3 of 3, by Larry Klaes] Category:Venera programme

1983

1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January


- January 2 - The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows (Uris Theatre on Broadway, New York City).
- January 8 - Riot in the Sing Sing prison
- January 10 - Mafia hitman Roy DeMeo is found dead in a trunk of his own car
- January 15 - Mafioso Meyer Lansky dies at Mount Sinai hospital
- January 19 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia.
- January 22 - Björn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.
- January 24 - 25 members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Aldo Moro
- January 26 - Lotus 1-2-3 is released.
- January 31 - Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.

February


- February 2 - Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial for multiple counts of bigamy - 105 women
- February 3 - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament for a double dissolution election for the March 5. Bob Hawke replaces Bill Hayden as federal ALP leader
- February 4 - Karen Carpenter(The Carpenters) died of Cardiac Arrest due to a prolonged battle with Anorexia Nervosa.
- February 6 - Klaus Barbie is charged with war crimes
- February 7 - Iran opens an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
- February 13 - US President Ronald Reagan proclaims 1983 "The Year of the Bible".
- February 16 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 76 people in one of Australia's worst ever fires.
- February 19 - Benjamin Ng and Willie Mak kill 13 in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington
- February 23 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
- February 24 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
- February 25 - US playwright Tennessee Williams found dead in his hotel room

March


- March 1
  - Balearic Islands and Madrid become autonomous communities of Spain
  - Swatch introduce their first timepieces
- March 5 - Madame Chiang Kai-shek's birthday Bob Hawke Elected Australian Prime Minister
- March 8 - IBM releases the IBM PC XT
- March 8 - President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
- March 11 - Hawke Ministry sworn in, Andrew Peacock becomes Federal Opposition leader
- March 16 - Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of wood.
- March 23 - Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars."

April


- April 7 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
- April 11 National Economic Summit held In Canberra
- April 15 - American Public Radio founded; changes its name to the current Public Radio International in 1994
- April 15 - The first non-American Disney theme park opens in Japan as Tokyo Disneyland
- April 18 - The U.S Embassy is bombed in Beirut, killing 63 people.
- April 22 - Soviet embassy official Valery Ivanov is expelled from Australia for allegedly trying to recruit spies in the Australian government.
- April 23 - Stern magazine in West Germany announces it has Hitler diaries
- April 25 - Maine schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.

May


- May 6 - Stern magazine publishes "Hitler Diaries" (later found to be forgeries).
- May 9 - Pope John Paul II retracts the ban of Galileo Galilei
- May 16 - London police begin the use of wheel clamps on illegally-parked vehicles.
- May 16 - NSW Premier Neville Wran steps down in response to allegations rasied by ABC program Four Corners That he Attempted to influence the NSW Majestry
- May 17 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
- May 25 - Return of the Jedi opens in the United States.

June


- Shipbreaking begins on the beach at Alang in Gujarat.
- 9 June: Conservative Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1979, won a landslide victory (42% of the popular vote) over Michael Foot, who led a highly-divided and weakened Labour Party which earned only 28% of the vote. The much improved economy (after 2-3 years of restructuring), her victory in the Falkands, as well as shrinking unemployment rates consolidated her election victory.
- June 13 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first manmade object to leave the solar system.
- June 18 - Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger.

July


- July 1 - A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashed into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
- July 1 - High Court Blocks construction of the Franklin Dam In Tasmania
- July 7 - Samantha Smith flies to the Soviet Union.
- July 16 - Sikorsky S-61 disaster: helicopter crash off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities
- July 18 - Michael Litton was born.
- July 20 - Government of Poland announces end of the martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.
- July 22 - Australian Dick Smith completes his solo circumnavigation in a helicopter
- July 23 - Gimli Glider: Air Canada flight 143 crash-lands in Gimli, Manitoba.
- July 25 - The outbreak of anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka which left over 3,000 Tamils massacred and millions of dollars worth of their property was destroyed. This genocide is the beginning of a deadly civil war in Sri Lanka.
- July 25 - Metallica released their debut album Kill 'Em All.
- July 28 New South Wales premier Neville Wran exonerated by Street Royal Commision over claims raised by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program Four Corners which claimed,he attempted to influence the NSW majestry

August


- August 4 - Thomas Sankara became President in Upper Volta.
- August 18 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
- August 18 - 5 people are killed and 18 others injured when a road train is deliberatly driven into a motel at Ayers Rock (Uluru) NT (The driver, Douglas Edward Crabbe, was found guilty of this in March 1984)
- August 21 - In the Philippines, opposition politician Benigno Aquino is assassinated just as he returns from exile
- August 24 - Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson
- August 21 - Benigno Aquino, Jr., Philippines opposition leader, assassinated in Manila

September


- September 1 - Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die.
- September 4 - Six men walk underwater across the Sydney Harbor - 82.9 km in 48 hours
- September 5 - Tom Brokaw becomes lead anchor for NBC Nightly News
- September 6 - The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight 007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace
- September 10 - Jon B. Minnoch, heaviest man in USA, dies weighing 362 kg. When he was admitted to hospital in March 1978, his weight was 635 kg
- September 16 - Donna Griffiths of Pershore, England, stops sneezing after continuous series of sneezes for 978 days, since January 13 1981
- September 23 - Violence erupts in New Caledonia between native Kanaks and French expatriates. The French government withdraws the promise of independence
- September 23 - Mass outbreak in Maze prison - 38 prisoners hijack a lorry and crash out of the gate - one guard dead and 5 others injured. 19 of the prisoners are later apprehended.
- September 23 - Barbara Turnbull, an 18 year old Canadian girl, was shot in the neck and became paralyzed for life during a store robbery in Mississauga, Canada.
- September 25-26 - Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war.
- September 27 - The GNU project was announced publicly on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups.

October


- October 2 - Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party.
- October 4 - Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
- October 7 - Plan to abolish Greater London Council announced.
- October 12 - Japan's ex Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
- October 19 - Maurice Bishop, the President of Grenada, and 40 others are shot in a military coup
- October 22 - In Bonn, West Germany people demonstrate for nuclear disarmament
- October 23 - A suicide truck-bombing destroys the United States Marine Corps barracks at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 US servicemen.
- October 24 - Arthur Hutchinson kills three members of Laitner family and rapes their daughter in the Sheffield suburb of Dore.
- October 25 - United States invades Grenada.
- October 27 - Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in prison to forgive him. Ali Ağca is the Turkish gunman who attempted to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981
- October 30 - The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.

November


- November 2 - Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
- November 5 - The worst offshore diving accident ever to take place, happened on board the Byford Dolphin rig in the North Sea of the coast of Norway. Five divers where killed and one severely wounded in an explosive decompression accident.
- November 11 - President Reagan became the first U.S. chief executive to address the Diet, Japan's national legislature.
- November 13 - The first US cruise missiles arrive at Greenham Common airbase in England amid protests from peace campaigners.
- November 15 - The Turkish part of Cyprus declares independence.
- November 16 - A jury in Gretna, Louisiana acquits Ginny Foat of the murder of Argentine businessman Moses Chaiyo.
- November 17 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation founded.
- November 24 - 15-year-old Lynda Mann is found raped and strangled in the village of Narborough, England (Colin Pitchfork is sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988)
- November 26 - Brinks Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly UK£26 million are taken from the Brinks Mat vault at Heathrow Airport. Only a fraction of the gold was ever recovered, and only two men were convicted of the crime.
- November 30 ASIO agents bungle a training exercise on the Melbourne Sheraton
- Microsoft Word is first released.

December


- December 9 - The Australian Dollar is floated, by Federal treasurer Paul Keating. Under the old flexible peg system, the Reserve Bank bought and sold all Australian dollars and cleared the market at the end of the day. This initiative was taken by the government of Bob Hawke.
- December 13 - The Denver Nuggets and the visiting Detroit Pistons combined for an NBA record 370 points, with Detroit winning in triple overtime, 186-184.
- December 17 - A fire at a discotheque in Madrid, Spain, kills 83 people.
- December 17 - An PIRA car bomb kills six Christmas shoppers and injures 90 outside Harrods in London.
- December 31 - Brunei gains independence from United Kingdom.
- December 31 - Two bombs explode in France. One on the Paris train kills 3 and injures 19. The other at Marseille station kills 2 and injures 34.

Unknown dates


- Democratic reform in power in Argentina.
- Roxanne Pulitzer divorces Herbert Pulitzer
- Gerard Debreu wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
- Leopold Kohr, the people of Belau, Amory and Hunter Lovins / Rocky Mountain Institute and Manfred Max-Neef / CEPAUR win the Right Livelihood Award
- McDonald's introduces the McNugget
- In Australia, the Northern Territory decriminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults
- The immunosuppressant cyclosporine was approved by FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.
- Flashdance and Return of the Jedi are box-office hits.
- Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program launched in U.S.
- Kellogg's introduces Crispix cereal.

Births

January-March


- January 2 - Kate Bosworth, American actress
- January 18 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
- January 19 - Hikaru Utada, Japanese singer and songwriter
- February 7 - Elin Grindemyr, Swedish model
- February 8 - Jim Verraros, American singer
- February 23 - Mido, Egyptian footballer
- March 10 - Carrie Underwood, American singer
- March 14 - Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
- March 14 - Taylor Hanson, American musician
- March 21 - Bruno Langley, British actor

April-June


- April 13 - Schalk Burger, South African rugby player
- April 15 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian hockey player
- April 17 - Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- April 22 - Matt Jones, American football player
- April 22 - Sean Muir, American playwright
- April 23 - Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakian tennis player
- May 11 - Matt Leinart, American football player
- May 11 - Holly Valance, Australian actress and singer
- May 14 - Amber Tamblyn, American actress
- May 27 - Bobby Convey, American soccer player
- May 30 - Jennifer Ellison, British actress
- June 4 - Ivan, Italian writer
- June 6 - Joe Rokocoko, New Zealand rugby player
- June 8 - Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
- June 30 - Cheryl Tweedy, British singer

July-September


- July 2 - Michelle Branch, American singer
- July 11 - Marie Eleonor Sernehlot, Swedish musician (A-Teens)
- July 13 - Liu Xiang, Chinese athlete
- July 21 - Eivør Pálsdóttir, Faroese singer and composer
- July 21 - Kellen Winslow Jr., American football player
- July 22 - Shelby Belle, Canadian actress
- July 23 - Rebecca Cartwright, Australian actress
- July 23 - Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer
- August 6 - Robin van Persie, Dutch football player
- August 14 - Mila Kunis, Ukrainian actress
- August 19 - Tammin Sursok, Australian actress
- August 23 - Nicol David, Malaysian squash player
- August 24 - Christopher Parker, British actor
- September 17 - Jennifer Peña, American singer
- September 21 - Maggie Grace, American actress

October-December


- October 2 - Efren Ramirez, American actor
- October 5 - Nicky Hilton, American model and socialite
- October 24 - Brian Vickers, American race car driver
- October 30 - Diana Karazon, Jordanian singer
- November 16 - Fallon Bowman, South African-born guitarist (Kittie)
- November 18 - Jon Johansen, Norwegian computer programmer
- December 6 - Bryan Habana, South African rugby player
- December 12 - Katrina Elam, American singer
- December 12 - Brad Smith, American football player
- December 13 - Otylia Jędrzejczak, Polish swimmer
- December 15 - René Duprée, Canadian professional wrestler
- December 18 - Ryan Dowling, American Singer/Songwriter/Mandolinist for the band The Tipplin' Weigh
- December 20 - Lucy Pinder, British model

Deaths

January-March


- January 11 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
- January 15 - Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b. 1902)
- January 23 - Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- January 24 - George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
- January 28 - Frank Forde, fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
- February 4 - Karen Carpenter, American singer (b. 1950)
- February 12 - Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1887)
- February 14 - Lina Radke