Japan’s Akatsuki to Reach Venus Today

From UniverseToday.  Excerpts:

Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft will arrive at Venus later today, and will enter orbit around the planet. The box-shaped orbiter will make observations from an elliptical orbit, from a distance of between 300 and 80,000 kilometers (186 to 49,600 miles), looking for — among other things — signs of lightning and active volcanoes.

The Akatsuki probe (Japanese for “Dawn”)((Which is really interesting to this guy)) has been traveling for six months, and launched along with the IKAROS solar sail mission. The timing for the orbit insertion burn is Dec. 6 at about 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT), which is early Tuesday morning Japan Standard Time.

 Lately, enthusiasts of The Unusual have been on quite a roll.  Webbots, Wikileaks, Solar filaments, UFOs, Major Space Discoveries..  So far, it's been an amazing year, our species adding new elements to our understanding of "reality," and how our universe works.  While Mars is certainly worthy of our continued research and exploration, so is Venus.  And, judging by these last eleven months, Japan might provide some amazing insights into our closest neighbor.  Thanks, Japan, and here's hoping for something Wonderful..