Venus
Which is more hostile, Mercury or Venus? This is a bit of a hard question, though Mercury may be kinder than Venus. After all, it's called Earth's evil twin sometimes, with a poisonous atmosphere, acid clouds and scorching temperatures. From Earth, the planet's clouds (which cover the ENTIRE planet) reflect so much light that Venus is brighter than all the other stars in the night sky.
Venus Stats
Average Distance from Sun: 108.21 million km
Perihelion: 107.48 million km Aphelion: 108.94 million km Mass: 0.815 times Earth Diameter: 12 103.6 km Volume: 0.86 times Earth Gravity: 0.905 times Earth (8.87 N/kg) Temperature: 464 C Rotation: -5832.6 hours Revolution: 224.695 Earth days Type: Terrestrial planet Namesake: Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Her Greek form is Aphrodite. |
Venus Facts
- VENUS IS THE HOTTER THAN MERCURY! You'd think Mercury is the hottest planet, but the title actually goes to Venus, because temperatures there can soar to a maximum of 477 C, even though it doesn't change much throughout a Venusian day. Why? Because while Mercury has too less of an atmosphere, Venus has too much. 96.5% of Venus's atmosphere is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, meaning a gas that traps heat. Venus's atmosphere is 92 times thicker than Earth's, causing a runaway greenhouse effect, heating up the entire planet. That also means that the sulfuric acid rain from the planet's clouds evaporate before reaching the ground.
- VENUS'S WINDS ARE FAST, at 320 km/h, swirling around the planet in 4 days. However, on the surface, the wind hardly blows. Despite this, the atmosphere is so thick and dense that the slightest breeze has as much force as a huge ocean wave.
- VENUS'S ROTATION IS LONGER THAN ITS YEAR. Venus takes 243.025 Earth days to rotate once, longer than it's revolution. It also spins in a retrograde direction, meaning its spin is opposite of Earth's. The only other planets with a retrograde rotation are Uranus and Pluto.
- VENUS IS DANGEROUS TO SPACE PROBES. Any space probe that lands on Venus only last for a few hours at most before conditions destroy them. Who wants to go to Venus? Anyone?
- VENUS HIDES ITS SURFACE FROM US. The planet's clouds cover the entire planet, so it took a long time to figure out what was underneath the clouds. Radar imaging reveals that Venus has volcanoes, though whether they still erupt or not is uncertain. Venus also has dunes and craters, though none of the craters are small because smaller asteroids burn up in Venus's thick atmosphere. The surface of Venus is also grey, much like Mercury's. However, they appear to be brown because the sunlight penetrating through the clouds washes them in a reddish light. The image below does not accurately show what Venus's surface's colour appear to be.
- VENUS'S OTHER NICKNAMES include the "evening star" and "morning star," because it reflects so much light back to Earth that it's the first "star" to appear during dusk and the last "star" to disappear at dawn.
- VENUS MIGHT HAVE HAD A HUGE COLLISION IN THE PAST. This collision is believed to have sent the planet spinning in its retrograde direction.
Map of Venus (Surface)
NOTE: Colours may be inaccurate/enhanced.