Overview
Venus is known as the morning star and second planet from the Sun. Though named after the Roman goddess of love, it is nicknamed “The Planetary Hot Spot”. This isn’t due to its beauty, but to its temperature.
Classification
Like Mercury, Venus is a terrestrial planet. Terrestrial planets are only found in the inner solar system. This is the area between the Sun and the asteroid belt. All terrestrial planets contain a rocky core and solid surface.
Size
Venus is slightly smaller than Earth. It has a radius of 3,760 miles.
Rotation
One day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days. This is because the planet spins very slow. One year on Venus is 225 Earth days. Like Mercury, one year is shorter than one day.
Position
Venus has a 3 degree tilt to its axial. This means it is mostly straight up and down. Unlike most of the planets, on Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east. This is because Venus has a rotation that is opposite of Earth’s. The only other planets that have a backwards rotation like Venus are Uranus and Pluto. The orbital pattern of Venus is circular, not oval shaped. As second planet from the Sun at 67 million miles away, it only takes 6 minutes for light to reach Venus.
Structure
Venus has an Earth like structure. The core is made of iron with a mantel made up of hot rock above it. Only the crust differs from Earth’s crust. The crust is thin so it bulges and shifts due to the multan liquid churning in the mantel. The surface temperature can reach up to 800 degrees F. Venus also has many volcanoes. The highest one is as high as Mount Everest.
The mass of Venus is just under that of Earth, because Earth is a bit bigger than Venus. This means Venus is the 6th in planetary mass in the solar system.
Gravity on Venus is 91% of Earth’s. This means a person on Venus would weigh just a little less than on Earth.
Atmosphere
Venus’ thick atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide and has clouds made of sulfuric acid. The atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen with trace amounts of sulfur dioxide, argon, water, carbon monoxide, helium and neon.
The clouds trap the heat from the sun and are responsible for Venus being the hottest planet at the surface. The atmosphere is also 90 times heavier than on Earth. There are no banded clouds, like seen on Jupiter. Because of its orbit, the top level of clouds on Venus are driven by winds of 224 mph. As the cloud height decreases, so do the winds. Because of the numerous stormes there is fiction that is created. This causes lightning. The lightning on Venus is associated with sulfuric acid rather than water.
Fun Facts
From space Venus can be seen as a bright white object. This is due to its thick atmosphere.
Basalt, a volcanic rock, makes up most of Venus’ crust.