Venus

Image of Venus

Facts About Venus

Overview

  • Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun
  • It is the second brightest natural object in the nightsky after the Moon
  • Venus rotates clockwise unlike all the other planets in the Solar System - with the exception of Uranus
  • One day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days but the planet only takes 224.7 Earth days to complete an orbit around the Sun.

Size and Distances

  • Venus is about 67 million miles or 108 million kilometres from the Sun
  • Once referred to as Earths twin, Venus is almost the same size of it - 7521 miles (12104 km) to 7926 miles (12756 km) across
  • At its closest to Earth, Venus would be 38 million miles or 61 million kilometres away
  • This means that Mercury spends more time closer to Earth than Venus
Image Of Venus Venus-Earth-Comparison Depiction of surface of Venus

Composition

  • Venus's core is similar to Earth in that it has an Iron Core surrounded by a hot Rock Mantle
  • The surface is made up of valleys and large volcanos that are very active
  • Its surface is relatively smooth compared to the other rocky planets due to lack of crater formation and also volcanic activity "smoothing" out the surface.
  • Venus's thick atmosphere would also contribute to this smoothness of surface as meteorites etc would bounce or skim off it and back into space

Temperature and Atmosphere

  • Although Venus is not the closest planet to the sun, it is the hottest surface temperatures pushing towards 482 degrees celsius
  • The atmosphere of Venus is primarly Carbon Dioxide which drives a Greenhouse effect
  • The clouds are composed of Sulfuric Acid
  • The Atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus is the equivalent of being 0.6 miles or 1 kilometre deep in the ocean