I think you'll like this very interesting post.
Consider -- if an object is warmed only by the sun, and has no atmosphere, it will warm up in the sunlight to an average surface temperature due the consistent amount of sunlight hitting it according to its distance from the sun.
The
average temperature (when you average over the entire surface) an object like a moon (without atmosphere) then remains at is entirely dependent on its distance from the sun, and it's albedo (the degree to which it absorbs solar radiation).
This process follows a very well known physics law, so that the planet will consistently maintain a 'blackbody temperature' due to absorbing solar radiation from the sun, and emitting infrared. (if it get's hotter, it simply emits more infrared, losing energy at a higher rate, so that it will return to the blackbody equilibrium temperature.)
For a given planet with a given distance from a given star, it the planet has no atmosphere, and has some certain albedo, we can calculate the blackbody temperature the planet as a whole would average over time very precisely.
It's well know basic physics, long tested and quite certain.
Did you know that for its distance from the sun,
Venus's natural surface average blackbody temperature according to it's distance from the sun without other factors like atmosphere would be
about 275 Kelvin, which is
about 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
For Earth, the natural surface average blackbody temperature according to it's distance from the sun would be about 254 Kelvin, which is about -.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pretty cool huh?
(Actually, it's
far far cooler than Earth has ever been. In the very last ice age, the global average from 19,000 to 23,000 years ago was about
46 degrees Fahrenheit (Earth during the last ice age). That's a gigantically warmer level than -.4F)
But fortunately for Earth, it has an atmosphere that helps hold heat at a pleasant level, warming it up in a very very good way for us, allowing Earth's average surface temperature to be about
56 F!
Is that interesting?
So, what's the actual surface temperature of Venus, as it actually exists, atmosphere and all?
Interested?
The U.S.S.R. sent an amazing surface lander to Venus (perhaps their greatest feat of any the Soviet Union ever did), way back in the 70s!
Venera 13 survived the intense atmosphere of Venus almost 127 minutes (!)....
An incredible feat.
The landing site was an area known as the Phoebe Regio. The lander's on-board instruments recorded hurricane-force winds, an ambient temperature of 457°C (854°F) and an atmospheric pressure of 89 atm (9 MPa) – equivalent to the pressure about 1 km (0.62 mi) below the surface of the ocean. Its other instruments were able to take photos of the surface, examine the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and record the sounds of an alien world. Longest time survived on Venus by a spacecraft
The
Venera missions measured the temperature on the surface of Venus at over 850F. That's hotter than our typical ovens at home can even get to, and more like a commercial pizza oven temperature.
Why is Venus so intensely hotter than blackbody, so vastly much more than Earth?
Well, we know from simple and clear and easy to demonstrate in a lab that CO2 adsorbs and reradiates infrared radiation, so that Venus's very large amount of CO2 is a very powerful blanket to trap heat.
Venus has a
lot of CO2.
This stuff is very simple, very clear, old science, and long confirmed over and over -- that's what is behind the 'science' of 'greenhouse gasses' like CO2. Not exotic or speculative physics, but very basic physics (my degree in college, engineering physics, included most physics courses a physics major takes; so, I'm not guessing about what is basic physics. I simply learned this early on as a freshman, as we learned basic long established physics first).