On the Earth’s sunny side, a definite magnetic field exists out to 40,000 miles, and on the side away from the Sun considerably farther. If Venus’ field had been similar to the Earth’s, a reading of 100 to 200 gamma, a large cosmic-ray count, and an absence of solar plasma should have been shown, but none of these phenomena were noted by Mariner.
These results do not prove that Venus definitely has no magnetic field, but only that it was not measurable at Mariner’s 21,598-mile point of closest approach. The slow rotation rate and the pressure of the solar winds probably combine to limit the field to a value one tenth of the Earth’s. Since Mariner passed Venus on the sunlit side, readings are required on the dark side in order to confirm the condition of the magnetic field on that side of the planet, which normally should be considerably extended.
THE SURFACE: HOW HOT?
Before Mariner, scientists had offered two main theories about the surface of Venus: It had either an electrically charged ionosphere causing false high-temperature readings on Earth instruments despite a cool surface, or a hot surface with clouds becoming increasingly colder with altitude.
The cool-surface theory supposed an ionosphere with a layer of electrons having a density thousands of times that of the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Microwave radiations from this electrical layer would cause misleading readings on Earth instruments. As a space probe scanned across such an atmosphere, it would see the least amount of charged ionosphere when looking straight down, and the most concentrated amount while scanning the limb or edge. In the latter case, it would be at an angle and would show essentially a thickening effect of the atmosphere because of the curvature of the planet.
As the probe approached the edge, the phenomenon known as “limb brightening” would occur, since the instruments would see more of the electron-charged ionosphere and little if any of the cooler surface. The temperature readings would, therefore, be correspondingly higher at the limbs.
The other theory, held by most scientists, visualized a hot surface on Venus, with no heavy concentration of electrons in the atmosphere, but with cooler clouds at higher altitudes. Thus, the spacecraft would look at a very hot planet from space, covered by colder, thick clouds. Straight down, the microwave radiometer would see the hot surface through the clouds. When approaching the limb, the radiations would encounter a thicker concentration of atmosphere and might not see any of the hot surface. This condition, “limb darkening,” would be characterized by temperatures decreasing as the edges of the planet were approached.
An instrument capability or resolution much higher than that available from the Earth was required to resolve the limb-brightening or limb-darkening controversy. Mariner’s radiometer would be able to provide something like one hundred times better resolution than the Earth-based measurements.
At 11:59 a.m., PST, on December 14, 1962, Mariner’s radiometers began to scan the planet Venus in a nodding motion at a rate of 0.1 degree per second and reaching an angular sweep of nominally 120 degrees. The radiometers had been switched on 6½ hours before the encounter with Venus and they continued to operate for another hour afterward.
The microwave radiometer looked at Venus at a wavelength of 13.5 millimeters and 19 millimeters. The 13.5-millimeter region was the location of a microwave water absorption band within the electromagnetic spectrum, but it was not anticipated that it would detect any water vapor on Venus. These measurements would allow determination of atmospheric radiation, averaging the hot temperatures near the surface, the warmer clouds at lower levels, and the lower temperatures found in the high atmosphere. If the atmosphere were a strong absorber of microwave energy at 13.5 millimeters, only the temperature of the upper layers would be reported.