Image Credit:- NASA/Magellan mission/JPL
Venus was named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love. Venus is the second distant planet from the sun and also our closest neighbor. Venus is similar to Earth in size, composition and even gravity. Venus is often called as a Sister planet of Earth. Venus has fascinated mankind since the beginning of recorded history. Humans may never be able to ever visit or colonize this deadly planet. Surface temperature on Venus approaches to 870 (462 °C) degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to melt lead. This hostile effect is due to the runaway greenhouse effect caused by heat trapped in the carbon dioxide rich atmosphere of Venus. Global warming on Venus is out of control. Clouds of sulfuric acid blow across the surface, wiped out by hurricane force winds.
The atmosphere on Venus is so thick and deadly that meteors are often incinerated before reaching the surface of Venus. This thick and deadly atmosphere created by Venus has a bright side, most of the light felled on Venus is reflected back, so here on earth Venus shines brightly. Venus is often called as a morning or evening star. Amazingly, this planet was not always in this situation like we observe it now, Astronomers have theorized that when Venus was young, it must have been similar to earth with plenty of water on its surface but due to the close distance to the sun, water was evaporated and dissipated into the atmosphere. When water reached at a particular height, oxygen atoms were separated from hydrogen atoms, leaving behind a brutal desert like landscape.
Some scientist think that there are more than one hundred thousand volcanoes on Venus. Just like Earth, Venus has a core of iron and the mantle of molten rock. Venus has no moon. You may think that mercury is the closest planet to the sun so it is the hottest of all but you are wrong Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. Venus spins slower than all other planets in our solar system. A single day on Venus lasts about longer than 243 days on earth. Average orbital speed of Venus is about 35.02 km/s. Mass of Venus is about 4.8676×1024 kg. The mean density of Venus is 5.243 g/cm^3. It spins around its axis in the opposite direction of the earth. With Venus sun rises from the west and sets in east. In December 1970 a Soviet spacecraft landed on Venus.
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