Watching Venus move across the sun
Crow Observatory was open June 5, 2012, for a viewing of the twice-per-century transit of Venus across
the Sun. The 154-year-old Yeatman telescope projected an
image of the Sun about two feet in diameter that several people could
simultaneously and safely view.
‘Heavy metal’ snow on Venus is lead sulfide
David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoBruce Fegley, Jr. and Laura Schaefer, with a chunk of galena, or lead sulfide.Lead sulfide — also known by its mineral name, galena — is a naturally occurring mineral found in Missouri, other parts of the world, and now. . .other parts of the solar system. Because recent thermodynamic calculations by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis provide plausible evidence that “heavy metal snow,” which blankets the surface of upper altitude Venusian rocks, is composed of both lead and bismuth sulfides.