Planet Venus

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The Planet Venus is the second closest planet to the sun. It is located between our Earth and Mercury. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Planet Venus

Venus is covered with thick clouds that create a greenhouse effect that makes it very hot.

Venus has no moons.

Facts about Planet Venus

* Diameter: 12,100 km. It is about 1040km smaller in diameter than Earth

* Temperature: Ranges from 900F+/- 50F (about 500°C +/- 32°C) at the surface

* Distance from Earth: At its closest, Venus is 41,840,000 km away

* Distance from the Sun: 108.2 million km

* Atmosphere: Carbon dioxide (95%), nitrogen, sulfuric acid, and traces of other elements

* Surface: A rocky, dusty, waterless expanse of mountains, canyons, and plains, with a 200-mile river of hardened lava

* Rotation of its axis: 243 Earth days (1 Venusian Day)

* Rotation around the Sun: 225 Earth days

* Magnetic Field: No

Venus is the brightest object in the sky besides our Sun and the Moon. It is also known as the morning star because at sunrise it appears in the east and and evening star as it appears at sunset when it is in the west. It cannot be seen in the middle of the night.

A Venusian day is 243 Earth days and is longer than its year of 225 days. Oddly, Venus rotates from east to west (retrograde – opposite to that of earth). If you were on Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.

Venus and Earth are close together in space and similar in size, which is the reason Venus is called Earth’s sister planet.

Age

Venus is about 4.503 billion years old.

Atmosphere

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. The dense atmosphere traps the heat which causes the greenhouse effect. This has prevented heat from escaping to space. It is even hotter than Mercury which is closer to the Sun. Venus atmosphere is not hotter the sun.

Surface

Maxwell Montes is the tallest mountain range on Venus. Skadi Mons is the highest point on the planet’s surface.

Maat Mons is the highest volcano on planet Venus.

Planet Venus Spacecraft

Venera: Soviet, Magellan: US Spacecraft

Venus Express was the first European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Planet Venus. It was launched on 9 November 2005 by a Soyuz Fregat Rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The spacecraft design is derived from the Mars Express spacecraft.

News: Akatsuki (Planet-C) is Japan’s first mission to orbit Venus. It is a Venus Climate Orbiter mission. It was placed in orbit in December 2015.

Planet Venus - Did You KnowDid you know?

  • Venus is often called Earth’s twin because the two planets are close in size, but that’s the only similarity.
  • The next Transit of Venus will occur on June 6th, 2012.

Books
Atlas of Venus by Peter Cattermole (Author), Patrick Moore (Author)
From Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

Venus II: Geology, Geophysics, Atmosphere, and Solar Wind Environment (Space Science Series) by  D. M. Hunten
From Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

June 8, 2004–Venus in Transit by Eli Maor
From Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

Video
Venus: Second Planet (1994)
From Amazon.com

Buy The Planets - Venus at Art.comPoster – The Planets – Venus
Buy From Art.com

Planet Venus Links

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