Venus is the second planet in distance from the Sun. The planet was named for Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty. It also is the hottest planet in the solar system. Its surface has broiling temperatures that make rocks glow red under a crushing atmosphere. Venus is nearly the same size as Earth, but takes 243 days to rotate on its axis in the opposite direction. It also lacks a magnetic field and a moon. Why conditions on Venus and Earth are so different remains a major puzzle for planetary scientists. Venus circles the Sun at a distance of 108 million km, in a little over seven months.Except for the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky. It is often called the morning star when it appears in the east at sunrise, and the evening star when it is in the west at sunset.When viewed through a telescope, Venus exhibits its shape like the Moon. This is because Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth does. An observer on Earth can see Venus show from the side and from behind, as well as face-on—planets further away from the Sun than Earth only show a nearly fully lit, face-on view toward our planet. The phases of Venus were one of the proofs that the 17th-century astronomer Galileo used to show that Earth itself orbits the Sun. Venus’s full phase appears smaller and dimmer because it occurs when the planet is on the far side of the Sun from Earth. The phases and positions of Venus in the sky repeat every 1.6 yearsWhen the planet moves across the face of the Sun as seen from Earth, its transit are rare, occurring in pairs at intervals of a little more than a century. The most recent transit occurred in 2004. The second transit of the pair will be in 2012.Venus orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 108 million km .Venus is the nearest planet to Earth in distance at about 41 million km (25.4 million mi) away at its closest approach.Venus circles the Sun once every 224.7 days in a counterclockwise direction, the same direction as the other planets in the solar system. Its axis is nearly vertical and its orbit is nearly circular so Venus does not experience seasons the way Earth and Mars do because of their more tilted axes and more elliptical orbits. Venus rotates very slowly, once every 243 Earth days. Venus’s rotation is retrograde, which means that the planet turns from east to west as seen looking down on its north pole. Earth and most other planets turn from west to east.Venus is only slightly smaller and less dense than Earth. The planet’s surface gravity is nine-tenths as strong as surface gravity on Earth; an object that weighs 10 kg on Earth would weigh 9 kg on Venus.The extreme conditions on Venus make it highly unlikely that humans will ever set foot on the planet—there are no current plans for manned exploration. If humans ever reached Venus, they would weigh about the same as on Earth but would otherwise find a totally alien world requiring heavy protection from heat and pressure. The stifling atmosphere is so dense that even a slow breeze would feel like a tremendous gust. Although nighttime would last for over 58 days, it would not be dark—the entire rocky landscape would glow a dull red. Venus may be the closest thing in the solar system to the way humans have imagined hell.
Venus is the second planet in distance from the Sun. The planet was named for Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty. It also is the hottest planet in the solar system. Its surface has broiling temperatures that make rocks glow red under a crushing atmosphere. Venus is nearly the same size as Earth, but takes 243 days to rotate on its axis in the opposite direction. It also lacks a magnetic field and a moon. Why conditions on Venus and Earth are so different remains a major puzzle for planetary scientists. Venus circles the Sun at a distance of 108 million km, in a little over seven months.Except for the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky. It is often called the morning star when it appears in the east at sunrise, and the evening star when it is in the west at sunset.When viewed through a telescope, Venus exhibits its shape like the Moon. This is because Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth does. An observer on Earth can see Venus show from the side and from behind, as well as face-on—planets further away from the Sun than Earth only show a nearly fully lit, face-on view toward our planet. The phases of Venus were one of the proofs that the 17th-century astronomer Galileo used to show that Earth itself orbits the Sun. Venus’s full phase appears smaller and dimmer because it occurs when the planet is on the far side of the Sun from Earth. The phases and positions of Venus in the sky repeat every 1.6 yearsWhen the planet moves across the face of the Sun as seen from Earth, its transit are rare, occurring in pairs at intervals of a little more than a century. The most recent transit occurred in 2004. The second transit of the pair will be in 2012.Venus orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 108 million km .Venus is the nearest planet to Earth in distance at about 41 million km (25.4 million mi) away at its closest approach.Venus circles the Sun once every 224.7 days in a counterclockwise direction, the same direction as the other planets in the solar system. Its axis is nearly vertical and its orbit is nearly circular so Venus does not experience seasons the way Earth and Mars do because of their more tilted axes and more elliptical orbits. Venus rotates very slowly, once every 243 Earth days. Venus’s rotation is retrograde, which means that the planet turns from east to west as seen looking down on its north pole. Earth and most other planets turn from west to east.Venus is only slightly smaller and less dense than Earth. The planet’s surface gravity is nine-tenths as strong as surface gravity on Earth; an object that weighs 10 kg on Earth would weigh 9 kg on Venus.The extreme conditions on Venus make it highly unlikely that humans will ever set foot on the planet—there are no current plans for manned exploration. If humans ever reached Venus, they would weigh about the same as on Earth but would otherwise find a totally alien world requiring heavy protection from heat and pressure. The stifling atmosphere is so dense that even a slow breeze would feel like a tremendous gust. Although nighttime would last for over 58 days, it would not be dark—the entire rocky landscape would glow a dull red. Venus may be the closest thing in the solar system to the way humans have imagined hell.