Atmosphere of Venus
In 1761, Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov observed an arc of light surrounding the part of Venus off the Sun's disc at the beginning of the egress phase of the transit and concluded that Venus has an atmosphere. In 1940, Rupert Wildt calculated that the amount of CO in the Venusian atmosphere would raise surface temperature above the boiling point for water. This was confirmed when Mariner 2 made radiometer measurements of the temperature in 1962. In 1967, Venera 4 confirmed that the atmosphere consisted primarily of carbon dioxide.
Atmosphere of Mercury
The Mercurian exosphere consists of a variety of species originating either from the Solar wind or from the planetary crust. The first constituents discovered were atomic hydrogen (H), helium (He) and atomic oxygen (O), which were observed by the ultraviolet radiation photometer of the "Mariner 10" spaceprobe in 1974. The near-surface concentrations of these elements were estimated to vary from 230 cm for hydrogen to 44,000 cm for oxygen, with an intermediate concentration of helium. In 2008 the MESSENGER probe confirmed the presence of atomic hydrogen, although its concentration appeared higher than the 1974 estimate. Mercury's exospheric hydrogen and helium are believed to come from the Solar wind, while the oxygen is likely to be of crustal origin.