Expert: Tom Whiting - 4/16/2011

Question
1. Does the planet Uranus get hit by earthquakes?

2. What association do the Moon and Venus have in common in  astronomy?

3. Does the planet Venus get hit by meteor showers?
I read this information of a website: Venus is a Crescent V when it is most visible twice a day and for a long period. Also during this time it becomes much easier to monitor the ever going meteor storms ranging around and into Venus. Venus is known well for being the planet most hit by Meteor Showers.
Go outside before sunrise, around 5:30 a.m. is best, and look East. The brightest object in that direction is the planet Venus. It looks like a star going supernova. Above Venus lies Saturn, and below, near the horizon, is Jupiter. Every 10 minutes or so you'll see a meteor streak among these planets. The meteors are pieces of Halley's Comet.

"Every year around this time Earth glides through a cloud of dusty debris from Halley's Comet," explains Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "Bits of dust, most no larger than grains of sand, disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere and become shooting stars."

"It's not an intense shower," he says, "but it is a pretty one."

Astronomers call it the "Orionid meteor shower," because the meteors appear to stream out of a point (called "the radiant") in the constellation Orion. The radiant is near Orion's left shoulder. But don't stare at that spot, advises Cooke. Meteors near the radiant seem short and stubby, a result of foreshortening. Instead, look toward any dark region of the sky about 90 degrees away. The vicinity of Venus or Jupiter is good. You'll see just as many Orionids there, but they will seem longer and more dramatic." Please give me more information.

Answer
Hi Kristine,
1. No. The 4 gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are, as the name implies, all gas, with no hard rocky surface. Therefore "landquakes" are impossible on these planets.

2. Both go through phases, just like the moon... but that's all they have in common. (Mercury also goes through phases as it is inside our orbit too.)
There is no gravitational or size association.
3. Since Venus is a rocky planet like the Earth, we can presume that it also is subject to meteor showers and an occasional meteorite impact. (So are Mars and Mercury too).
Check the date on your article you read... it was near October, because the Orionid meteor shower, caused by Halley's Comet, is around October 21st starting at about 1 am local time, when the constellation Orion rises in the east. (no need to look before that hour).
There are other annual showers that are much much better than the Orionids of October which produce only 10-15 meteors per hour... there are the Perseids of August 11/12 that produce over 60-100 per hour starting around 11 pm local time, from the NE sky. And there are the Geminids on the night of December 13/14 that also produce 60-100 per hour also.  (Both numbers are for a clear, moonless, dark country sky, not in a light polluted city sky). But unfortunately, 2011 is not a good year for any annual meteor shower as the moon will be up and bright on all those dates this year... that's why we are now waiting until the following year, 2012, for the next great year of viewing annual meteor showers.
Hope this helps,
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA USA