essay on planet venus

Essay on Venus

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100 Words Essay on Venus

Introduction to venus.

Venus is the second planet from the sun in our solar system. It’s similar to Earth in size and mass, which is why it’s often called Earth’s “sister planet”.

Venus is the brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon due to its thick cloud cover that reflects and scatters sunlight.

Surface and Atmosphere

Venus has a hostile environment with surface temperatures reaching 471°C and an atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid.

Exploration

Despite its extreme conditions, Venus has been visited by numerous spacecrafts, providing us with valuable data about this intriguing planet.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Venus
• Paragraph on Venus

250 Words Essay on Venus

Introduction.

Venus, the second planet from the Sun in our solar system, has long been a subject of intrigue. Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus shines brightly in our night sky, often referred to as the “Evening Star” or “Morning Star”.

Physical Characteristics

Venus is similar in size to Earth, making it our closest planetary sibling. However, its atmospheric conditions are drastically different. Venus boasts a dense atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid. This leads to a severe greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in the solar system.

The harsh conditions on Venus have made exploration challenging. Despite this, several missions have been undertaken, notably by NASA and the Soviet space program. The Soviet Venera probes in the 1970s and 1980s provided the first direct data on Venus’s surface and atmosphere, while NASA’s Magellan mission in the 1990s mapped the planet’s surface in detail.

Life on Venus

The extreme conditions on Venus make it unlikely to host life as we know it. However, recent studies have indicated the presence of phosphine gas in Venus’s atmosphere, a potential biosignature. This has rekindled interest in the planet and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life.

Venus, while inhospitable, remains a fascinating object of study. Its similarities and differences to Earth provide valuable insights into planetary formation, climate processes, and the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. As our understanding of Venus continues to grow, so too does our appreciation for this celestial neighbor.

500 Words Essay on Venus

Venus, the second planet from the Sun in our solar system, has long intrigued scientists and astronomers with its thick, toxic atmosphere and extreme surface temperatures. Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus offers a stark contrast to the serene and life-supporting conditions on Earth.

Venus is similar to Earth in size and mass, earning it the nickname “Earth’s Twin.” However, the similarities end there. Venus’ atmosphere is composed mostly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid, making it uninhabitable for known life forms. The planet’s surface temperature averages around 467 degrees Celsius, hotter than the surface of Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun. This extreme heat is due to the ‘greenhouse effect’, where the planet’s atmosphere traps solar radiation.

Geographical Features

The Venusian landscape is a geologist’s enigma. It is relatively young, geologically speaking, with an estimated age of 500 to 700 million years. The surface is mostly flat, punctuated by large shield volcanoes, extensive lava flows, and a few mountainous regions. Venus also lacks tectonic plate activity, unlike Earth, which further adds to its geological mystery.

Venusian Atmosphere

The atmosphere of Venus is one of its most distinctive features. It is incredibly dense and contains a minimal amount of water vapor. The atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is 92 times greater than Earth’s, equivalent to the pressure found 900 meters deep in Earth’s oceans. The thick atmosphere also creates a strong greenhouse effect, trapping heat and making Venus the hottest planet in our solar system.

Exploration of Venus

The harsh conditions on Venus have posed significant challenges to space exploration. The first successful mission was the Soviet Venera 7 in 1970, which successfully landed on the planet and transmitted data back to Earth. Since then, numerous missions, primarily by NASA and the European Space Agency, have sought to understand Venus better. However, the planet’s extreme conditions have often led to the premature end of these missions.

Venus serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of runaway greenhouse effects. Its inhospitable conditions, while fascinating to scientists, underscore the delicate balance that makes life on Earth possible. As we continue to explore Venus, we gain not only a better understanding of our neighboring planet but also valuable insights into the processes that govern our own planet’s climate and geology. The study of Venus, therefore, holds profound implications for our understanding of planetary science and the quest for extraterrestrial life.

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Space Facts

Venus Facts

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is the second largest terrestrial planet . Venus is sometimes referred to as the Earth’s sister planet due to their similar size and mass. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Facts about Venus

• Venus does not have any moons or rings.
• Venus is nearly as big as the Earth with a diameter of 12,104 km.
• Venus is thought to be made up of a central iron core, rocky mantle and silicate crust.
• A day on the surface of Venus (solar day) would appear to take 117 Earth days.
• A year on Venus takes 225 Earth days.
• The surface temperature on Venus can reach 471 °C.
• A day on Venus lasts longer than a year.  It takes 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis (sidereal day). The planet’s orbit around the Sun takes 225 Earth days, compared to the Earth’s 365. A day on the surface of Venus (solar day) takes 117 Earth days.
• Venus rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets.  This means that Venus is rotating in the opposite direction to the Sun, this is also known as a retrograde rotation. One possible reason for this might be a collision with an asteroid or other object.
• Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky.  Only the Moon is brighter. With a magnitude of between -3.8 to -4.6 Venus is so bright it can be seen during daytime on a clear day.
• Atmospheric pressure on Venus is 92 times greater than the Earth’s.  Due to this crushing small asteroids when they enter its atmosphere Venus has not small craters. The pressure felt on Venus’ surface is equivalent to that deep beneath the sea on Earth.
• Venus is often called the Earth’s sister planet.  The  Earth  and Venus are very similar in size with only a 638 km difference in diameter and Venus having 81.5% of the Earth’s mass. Both also have a central core, a molten mantle and a crust.
• The same side of Venus always faces the Earth when at their closest. It is possible this is due to the Earth’s gravational influence.
• Venus is also known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star.  Early civilisations thought Venus was two different bodies. These were called Phosphorus and Hesperus by the Greeks, and Lucifer and Vesper by the Romans. When Venus’ orbit around the Sun overtakes Earth’s orbit, it changes from being visible after sunset to being visible before sunrise. Mayan astronomers made detailed observations of Venus as early as 650 AD.
• Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system.  The average surface temperature is 462 °C, and because Venus does not tilt on its axis, there is no seasonal variation. The dense atmosphere of around 96.5 percent carbon dioxide traps heat and causes a greenhouse effect.
• A detailed study of Venus finished in 2015.  In 2006, the Venus Express space craft was sent into orbit around Venus by the European Space Agency. Originally planned to last five hundred Earth days, the mission was extended several times before the craft was deorbited in 2015. More than 1,000 volcanoes or volcanic centres larger than 20 km have been found on the surface of Venus.
• The Russians sent the first mission to Venus.  The Venera 1 space probe was launched in 1961, but lost contact with base. The USA also lost their first probe to Venus, Mariner 1, although Mariner 2 was able to take measurements of the planet in 1962. The Soviet Union’s Venera 3 was the first man-made craft to land on Venus in 1966.
• At one point it was thought Venus might be a tropical paradise.  The dense clouds of sulphuric acid surrounding Venus make it impossible to view its surface from outside its atmosphere. It was only when radio mapping was developed in the 1960s that scientists were able to observe the extreme temperatures and hostile environment.

Venus Diagrams

Related space facts:

The Venus Planet Essay Paragraph For Students

This “Essay on Venus” provides an in-depth look at the second planet from the sun. Learn about its thick atmosphere, extreme temperatures, and volcanic activity. Discover the history of Venus exploration and the ongoing efforts to study this mysterious planet.

Table of Contents

500 Words Essay on Venus

Venus is the second planet from the sun and is often referred to as Earth ‘s sister planet due to its similar size and proximity to our own planet. However, Venus is a vastly different world with a thick atmosphere that traps heat, creating surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.

One of the most striking features of Venus is its thick atmosphere, which is primarily composed of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. This atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect, trapping heat and creating surface temperatures that can reach up to 864 degrees Fahrenheit. The thick atmosphere also causes Venus to have a thick cloud cover, which makes it difficult to study the surface.

Despite the harsh conditions on the surface of Venus, there is evidence of volcanic activity. The planet has several large light volcanoes, including the highest volcano in the solar system, called Maxwell Montes. Venus also has several large rift valleys and mountains, which suggest tectonic activity.

Exploration of Venus began in the 1960s with the launch of the first Venus probe, Venera 1. Since then, several missions have been sent to Venus, including the Soviet Venera and Vega missions, and NASA’s Magellan and Venus Express missions. These missions have provided valuable information about Venus’ atmosphere, surface, and interior.

Despite the ongoing efforts to study Venus, many mysteries remain. Scientists are still trying to understand the history of the planet, the cause of its extreme temperatures, and the potential for life on Venus.

10 lines on Venus Planet for students

• Venus is the second planet from the sun.
• It is sometimes called Earth’s sister planet because of its similar size and proximity.
• Venus has a thick atmosphere mostly composed of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
• This atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect, leading to surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.
• Venus has a thick cloud cover, making it difficult to study its surface.
• There is evidence of volcanic activity on Venus, including the highest volcano in the solar system. Venus also has several large rift valleys and mountains, indicating tectonic activity.
• Exploration of Venus began in the 1960s with the launch of the first Venus probe.
• Ongoing efforts have provided valuable information about Venus’ atmosphere, surface, and interior.
• However, many mysteries remain and scientists continue to study Venus in hopes of understanding its history and potential for life.

FAQ On Venus Essay

Q1. What is Venus’ atmosphere composed of?

A: Venus’ atmosphere is primarily composed of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

Q:2 What is the surface temperature of Venus?

The surface temperature of Venus can reach up to 864 degrees Fahrenheit.

Q: 3 Is there evidence of volcanic activity on Venus?

Yes, there is evidence of volcanic activity on Venus, including several large volcanoes and rift valleys.

In conclusion, Venus is a fascinating planet that is vastly different from Earth. It has a thick atmosphere that causes extreme temperatures and a thick cloud cover. Despite the harsh conditions, there is evidence of volcanic activity and tectonic activity on the surface. Exploration of Venus began in the 1960s, and ongoing efforts have provided valuable information about the planet. However, many mysteries remain and scientists continue to study Venus in hopes of understanding its history, extreme temperatures, and potential for life.

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It's a cloud-swaddled planet named for a love goddess, often called Earth’s twin. But pull up a bit closer, and Venus turns hellish. Our nearest planetary neighbor, the second planet from the Sun, has a surface hot enough to melt lead. The atmosphere is so thick that, from the surface, the Sun is just a smear of light.

In some ways it is more an opposite of Earth than a twin: Venus spins backward, has a day longer than its year, and lacks any semblance of seasons. It might once have been a habitable ocean world, like Earth, but that was at least a billion years ago. A runaway greenhouse effect turned all surface water into vapor, which then leaked slowly into space. The present-day surface of volcanic rock is blasted by high temperatures and pressures. Asked if the surface of Venus is likely to be life-bearing today, we can give a quick answer: a hard “no.”

Further, Venus may hold lessons about what it takes for life to get its start ­– on Earth, in our solar system, or across the galaxy. The ingredients are all there, or at least, they used to be. By studying why our neighbor world went in such a different direction with regard to habitability, we could find out what could make other worlds right. And while it might sound absurd, we can’t rule out life on Venus entirely. Temperature, air pressure, and chemistry are much more congenial up high, in those thick, yellow clouds.

The ancient Romans could easily see seven bright objects in the sky: the Sun, the Moon, and the five brightest planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn). They named the objects after their most important gods. Venus, the third brightest object after the Sun and Moon, was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It’s the only planet named after a female god.

Potential for Life

Thirty miles up (about 50 kilometers), temperatures range from 86 to 158 Fahrenheit (30 to 70 Celsius), a range that, even at its higher-end, could accommodate Earthly life, such as “extremophile” microbes. And atmospheric pressure at that height is similar to what we find on Earth’s surface.

At the tops of Venus’ clouds, whipped around the planet by winds measured as high as 224 miles (360 kilometers) per hour, we find another transformation. Persistent, dark streaks appear. Scientists are so far unable to explain why these streaks remain stubbornly intact, even amid hurricane-force winds. They also have the odd habit of absorbing ultraviolet radiation.

The most likely explanations focus on fine particles, ice crystals, or even a chemical compound called iron chloride. Although it's much less likely, another possibility considered by scientists who study astrobiology is that these streaks could be made up of microbial life, Venus-style. Astrobiologists note that ring-shaped linkages of sulfur atoms, known to exist in Venus’ atmosphere, could provide microbes with a kind of coating that would protect them from sulfuric acid. These handy chemical cloaks would also absorb potentially damaging ultraviolet light and re-radiate it as visible light.

Some of the Russian Venera probes did, indeed, detect particles in Venus’ lower atmosphere about a micron in length – roughly the same size as a bacterium on Earth.

None of these findings provide compelling evidence for the existence of life in Venus’ clouds. But the questions they raise, along with Venus’ vanished ocean, its violently volcanic surface, and its hellish history, make a compelling case for a return to our temperamental sister planet. There is much, it would seem, that she can teach us.

Size and Distance

Our nearness to Venus is a matter of perspective. The planet is nearly as big around as Earth – 7,521 miles (12,104 kilometers) across, versus 7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers) for Earth. From Earth, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky after our own Moon. The ancients, therefore, gave it great importance in their cultures, even thinking it was two objects: a morning star and an evening star. That’s where the trick of perspective comes in.

Because Venus’ orbit is closer to the Sun than ours, the two of them – from our viewpoint – never stray far from each other. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks saw Venus in two guises: first in one orbital position (seen in the morning), then another (your “evening” Venus), just at different times of the year.

At its nearest to Earth, Venus is some 38 million miles (about 61 million kilometers) distant. But most of the time the two planets are farther apart; Mercury, the innermost planet, actually spends more time in Earth’s proximity than Venus.

One more trick of perspective: how Venus looks through binoculars or a telescope. Keep watch over many months, and you’ll notice that Venus has phases, just like our Moon – full, half, quarter, etc. The complete cycle, however, new to full, takes 584 days, while our Moon takes just a month. And it was this perspective, the phases of Venus first observed by Galileo through his telescope, that provided the key scientific proof for the Copernican heliocentric nature of the Solar System.

Orbit and Rotation

Spending a day on Venus would be quite a disorienting experience – that is, if your ship or suit could protect you from temperatures in the range of 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 Celsius). For one thing, your “day” would be 243 Earth days long – longer even than a Venus year (one trip around the Sun), which takes only 225 Earth days. For another, because of the planet's extremely slow rotation, sunrise to sunset would take 117 Earth days. And by the way, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east, because Venus spins backward compared to Earth.

While you’re waiting, don’t expect any seasonal relief from the unrelenting temperatures. On Earth, with its spin axis tilted by about 23 degrees, we experience summer when our part of the planet (our hemisphere) receives the Sun’s rays more directly – a result of that tilt. In winter, the tilt means the rays are less direct. No such luck on Venus: Its very slight tilt is only three degrees, which is too little to produce noticeable seasons.

Venus has no moons.

Venus has no rings.

A critical question for scientists who search for life among the stars: How do habitable planets get their start? The close similarities of early Venus and Earth, and their very different fates, provide a kind of test case for scientists who study planet formation. Similar size, similar interior structure, both harboring oceans in their younger days. Yet one is now an inferno, while the other is the only known world – so far – to play host to abundant life. The factors that set these planets on almost opposite paths began, most likely, in the swirling disk of gas and dust from which they were born. Somehow, 4.6 billion years ago that disk around our Sun accreted, cooled, and settled into the planets we know today. Several might well have moved in closer, or farther out, as the solar system formed. Better knowledge of the formation history of Venus could help us better understand Earth’s – and those of rocky planets around other stars.

If we could slice Venus and Earth in half, pole to pole, and place them side by side, they would look remarkably similar. Each planet has an iron core enveloped by a hot-rock mantle; the thinnest of skins forms a rocky, exterior crust. On both planets, this thin skin changes form and sometimes erupts into volcanoes in response to the ebb and flow of heat and pressure deep beneath.

Other possible similarities will require further investigation – and perhaps another visit to a planet that has hosted many Earth probes, both in orbit and (briefly) on the surface. On Earth, the slow movement of continents over thousands and millions of years reshapes the surface, a process known as “plate tectonics.” Something similar might have happened on Venus early in its history. Today a key element of this process could be operating: subduction, or the sliding of one continental “plate” beneath another, which can also trigger volcanoes. Subduction is believed to be the first step in creating plate tectonics.

NASA’s Magellan spacecraft, which ended a five-year mission to Venus in 1994, mapped the broiling surface using radar. Magellan saw a land of extreme volcanism. The orbiter saw a relatively young surface, one recently reshaped (in geologic terms), and chains of towering mountains.

The broiling surface of Venus has been a topic of heated discussion among planetary scientists. The traditional picture includes a catastrophic, planetwide resurfacing between 350 and 750 million years ago. In other words, Venus appears to have completely erased most traces of its early surface. The causes: volcanic and tectonic forces, which could include surface buckling and massive eruptions. But newer estimates made with help from computer models paint a different portrait. While the same forces would be at work, resurfacing would be piecemeal over an extended time. The average age of surface features could be as young as 150 million years, with some older surfaces mixed in.

Venus is a landscape of valleys and high mountains dotted with thousands of volcanoes. Its surface features – most named for both real and mythical women – include Ishtar Terra, a rocky, highland area around the size of Australia near the north pole, and an even larger, South-America-sized region called Aphrodite Terra that stretches across the equator. One mountain reaches 36,000 feet (11 kilometers), higher than Mt. Everest. Notably, except for Earth, Venus has by far the fewest impact craters of any rocky planet, revealing a young surface.

On your tour of Venus, during the 117 days you’re waiting for sunset, you might stop by a volcanic crater, Sacajawea, named for Lewis and Clark’s Native American guide. Or stroll through a deep canyon, Diana, named for the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Other notable features of the Venus landscape include:

“Pancake” domes with flat tops and steep sides, as wide as 38 miles (62 kilometers), likely formed by the extrusion of highly viscous lava.

“Tick” domes, odd volcanoes with radiating spurs that, from above, make them look like their blood-feeding namesake.

Tesserae, terrain with intricate patterns of ridges and grooves that suggest the scorching temperatures make rock behave in some ways more like peanut butter beneath a thin and strong chocolate layer on Venus.

The Soviet Union landed 10 probes on the surface of Venus, but even among the few that functioned after landing, the successes were short-lived – the longest survivor lasted two hours; the shortest, 23 minutes. Photos snapped before the landers fried show a barren, dim, and rocky landscape, and a sky that is likely some shade of sulfur yellow.

Venus’ atmosphere is one of extremes. With the hottest surface in the solar system, apart from the Sun itself, Venus is hotter even than the innermost planet, charbroiled Mercury. To outlive the short-lived Venera probes, your rambling sojourn on Venus would presumably include unimaginably strong insulation as temperatures push toward 900 degrees Fahrenheit (482 Celsius). You would need an extremely thick, pressurized outer shell to avoid being crushed by the weight of the atmosphere – which would press down on you as if you were 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) deep in the ocean.

The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide – the same gas driving the greenhouse effect on Venus and Earth – with clouds composed of sulfuric acid. And at the surface, the hot, high-pressure carbon dioxide behaves in a corrosive fashion. But a stranger transformation begins as you rise higher. Temperature and pressure begin to ease.

Magnetosphere

Even though Venus is similar in size to Earth and has a similar-sized iron core, the planet does not have its own internally generated magnetic field. Instead, Venus has what is known as an induced magnetic field. This weak magnetic field is created by the interaction of the Sun's magnetic field and the planet's outer atmosphere. Ultraviolet light from the Sun excites gases in Venus' outermost atmosphere; these electrically excited gases are called ions, and thus this region is called the ionosphere (Earth has an ionosphere as well). The solar wind – a million-mile-per-hour gale of electrically charged particles streaming continuously from the Sun – carries with it the Sun's magnetic field. When the Sun's magnetic field interacts with the electrically excited ionosphere of Venus, it creates or induces, a magnetic field there. This induced magnetic field envelops the planet and is shaped like an extended teardrop, or the tail of a comet, as the solar wind blows past Venus and outward into the solar system.

NASA Photojournal - Venus

National Space Science Data Center - Venus

National Space Science Data Center Photo Gallery - Venus

All About Venus

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Even though Venus isn't the closest planet to the Sun, it is still the hottest. It has a thick atmosphere full of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid. The gas traps heat and keeps Venus toasty warm. In fact, it's so hot on Venus, metals like lead would be puddles of melted liquid.

Explore Venus! Click and drag to rotate Venus. Scroll or pinch to zoom in and out. Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)

Venus looks like a very active planet. It has mountains and volcanoes. Venus is similar in size to Earth. Earth is just a little bit bigger.

Venus is unusual because it spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets. And its rotation is very slow. It takes about 243 Earth days to spin around just once. Because it's so close to the Sun, a year goes by fast. It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go all the way around the Sun. That means that a day on Venus is a little longer than a year on Venus.

Since the day and year lengths are similar, one day on Venus is not like a day on Earth. Here, the Sun rises and sets once each day. But on Venus, the Sun rises every 117 Earth days. That means the Sun rises two times during each year on Venus, even though it is still the same day on Venus! And because Venus rotates backwards, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.

Just like Mercury, Venus doesn't have any moons.

Structure and Surface

• Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system.
• Venus is a terrestrial planet. It is small and rocky.
• Venus has a thick atmosphere. It traps heat and makes Venus very hot.
• Venus has an active surface, including volcanoes!
• Venus spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets.

Time on Venus

• A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days.
• A year on Venus lasts 225 Earth days.

Venus's Neighbors

• Venus does not have any moons.
• Venus is the second planet from the Sun. That means Mercury and Earth are Venus's neighboring planets.

Quick History

• Venus has been known since ancient times because it can be seen easily without a telescope.
• Venus has been visited by several spacecraft: Mariner 2, Mariner 5, Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus 1, Pioneer Venus 2, and an orbiter called Magellan.

What does Venus look like?

Here you can see the clouds covering Venus.

This is a combination of images taken by the Magellan spacecraft. The colors have been altered so you can see all the differences in Venus's surface. Magellan used radar to get information about the surface of Venus, which we can't normally see because of the thick, cloudy atmosphere.

A crater on the surface of Venus. It's 45 miles (72 km) wide.

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Venus, the second planet from the sun, is the hottest and brightest planet in the solar system. 

The scorching terrestrial (rocky) type planet is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty and is the only solar system planet named after a female when following the International Astronomical Union designation of names that the astronomy community uses as a convention. (Other cultures have different names for celestial locations.) 

Venus may have been named after the most beautiful deity of the Roman (and Greek) pantheons because it shone the brightest among the five planets known to ancient astronomers. In ancient Greek city-states, however, Venus was called Aphrodite.

Length of day: 243 Earth days

Length of year: 225 Earth days

Distance from sun: 67 million miles (108 million kilometers)

Number of moons: 0

Surface temperature: 900° F (480° C)

Diameter: 7,520 miles (12,100 km)

Atmospheric composition: 96% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen.

In ancient times, planet Venus was often thought to be two different stars , the evening star and the morning star — that is, the ones that first appeared at sunset and sunrise. In Christian Latin, they were respectively known as Vesper and Lucifer. (In Christian times, Lucifer, or "light-bringer," became known as the name of Satan before his fall.)

However, further observations of Venus in the space age show a very hellish environment. This makes Venus a very difficult planet to observe from up close because spacecraft do not survive long on its surface. 

Related: What is a 'morning star,' and what is an 'evening star'?  

How hot is planet Venus?

Temperatures on Venus reach 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), which is more than hot enough to melt lead. 

What is planet Venus made of?

Venus is made up of a central iron core and a rocky mantle, similar in composition to Earth. But Venus' hellish atmosphere is made up of mainly carbon dioxide (96%) and nitrogen (3.5%) with trace amounts of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, water vapour, argon, and helium making up the other 0.5%. 

Venus is highly visible from Earth due to its reflective clouds. In the sky, Venus appears as a brilliant white object that is one of the brightest natural things in the night sky . Its maximum magnitude, or apparent brightness, is close to -5 , according to NASA. (By comparison, the moon is roughly -14, The lower an object's magnitude, the brighter it appears to the eye.)

Up close, NASA says the color of Venus is "rusty" , but not the kind of deep red rust one would find on the planet Mars . Rather, pictures NASA and others have sent back from Venus suggest a world with tinges of red, brown and yellow. Cornell University suggests that color comes from the number of volcanic rocks dotting the surface, as Venus is a highly active world.

The "real" color of Venus, however, is impossible to see from orbit due to the sulfuric acid clouds surrounding the planet. Pictures of Venus are thus only visible if an orbiting satellite has the ability to peer through the thick clouds. For a human explorer to see the surface, they would need to descend and to survive the oven-like temperatures and high pressures present down there. That harsh environment likely means that for now, we'll be using robotic explorers to look at Venus for us.

The orbit of Venus lies along the ecliptic , which is the same pathway that the other planets, the sun and the moon also take in our solar system. That's no coincidence, as the ecliptic represents the "plane" or the orientation of our solar system, which all goes back to how our solar system came to be. In practice, Venus being so close to other worlds means that conjunctions, or close encounters between celestial worlds, are quite common in Earth's sky. Several times a year you will see Venus lining up with the moon, and more rarely, with other planets.

Venus and Earth are often called twins because they are similar in size, mass, density, composition and gravity . Venus is only a little bit smaller than our home planet, with a mass of about 80% of Earth's. 

Venus is not a gas planet, but a rocky planet. The interior of Venus is made of a metallic iron core that's roughly 2,400 miles (6,000 km) wide. Venus' molten rocky mantle is roughly 1,200 miles (3,000 km) thick. Venus' crust is mostly basalt and is estimated to be 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 km) thick, on average.

Why Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system is rather complicated. Although Venus is not the planet closest to the sun , its dense atmosphere traps heat in a runaway version of the greenhouse effect that we see firsthand on Earth with global warming.  As a result, temperatures on Venus reach 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), which is more than hot enough to melt lead. Spacecraft have survived only a few hours after landing on the planet before being destroyed.

With scorching temperatures, Venus also has a hellish atmosphere , that consists mainly of carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid and only trace amounts of water. The atmosphere of Venus is heavier than that of any other planet, leading to a surface pressure that's over 90 times that of Earth — similar to the pressure that exists 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) deep in the ocean.  

Venus' surface is extremely dry. During the planet's evolution, ultraviolet rays from the sun evaporated water quickly, keeping Venus in a prolonged molten state . There is no liquid water on its surface today because the scorching heat created by its ozone-filled atmosphere would cause water to immediately boil away.

Roughly two-thirds of the Venusian surface is covered by flat, smooth plains that are marred by thousands of volcanoes, some of which are still active today , ranging from about 0.5 to 150 miles (0.8 to 240 km) wide, with lava flows carving long, winding canals that are up to more than 3,000 miles (5,000 km) in length.

Six mountainous regions make up about one-third of the Venusian surface. One mountain range, called Maxwell, is about 540 miles (870 km) long and reaches up to some 7 miles (11.3 km) high, making it the highest feature on the planet.

Venus also possesses several surface features that are unlike anything on Earth. For example, Venus has coronae, or crowns — ring-like structures that range from roughly 95 to 1,300 miles (155 to 2100 km) wide. Scientists believe these formed when hot material beneath the planet's crust rose, warping the planet's surface. Venus also has tesserae, or tiles — raised areas in which many ridges and valleys have formed in different directions.

Venus has no known moons, which makes it nearly unique in our solar system. The only other designated planet without moons is Mercury , which is quite close to the sun. Scientists aren't yet sure why some planets have moons and some do not, but what they can say is that each planet has a unique and complex history and that may in part contribute to how moons formed, or didn't form.

What is Venus' orbit like?

Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate on its axis, which is by far the slowest of any of the major planets. In fact, its day is longer than its year, and that may be due to the thick atmosphere of Venus serving as a big brake on the planet's rotation. And, because of this sluggish spin, its metal core cannot generate a magnetic field similar to Earth's. The magnetic field of Venus is 0.000015 times that of Earth's magnetic field .

According to NASA:

Average distance from the sun: 67 million miles (108 million km). 

Perihelion (closest approach to the sun): 66,785,000 miles (107,480,000 km). 

Aphelion (farthest distance from the sun): 67,692,000 miles (108,941,000 km).  

If viewed from above, Venus rotates on its axis in a direction that's the opposite of most planets'. That means on Venus, the sun would appear to rise in the west and set in the east. On Earth, the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west.

The Venusian year — the time it takes to orbit the sun — is about 225 Earth days long. Normally, that would mean that days on Venus would be longer than years. However, because of Venus' curious retrograde rotation, the time from one sunrise to the next is only about 117 Earth days long. The last time we saw Venus transit in front of the sun was in 2012, and the next time will be in 2117. 

The very top layer of Venus' clouds zips around the planet every four Earth days, propelled by hurricane-force winds traveling roughly 224 mph (360 kph). This superrotation of the planet's atmosphere, some 60 times faster than Venus itself rotates, might be one of Venus' biggest mysteries. 

The clouds also carry signs of meteorological events known as gravity waves , caused when winds blow over geological features, causing rises and falls in the layers of air. The winds at the planet's surface are much slower, estimated to be just a few miles per hour.

Unusual stripes in the upper clouds of Venus are dubbed "blue absorbers" or "ultraviolet absorbers" because they strongly absorb light in the blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. These are soaking up a huge amount of energy — nearly half of the total solar energy the planet absorbs. As such, they seem to play a major role in keeping Venus as hellish as it is. Their exact composition remains uncertain; Some scientists suggest it could even be life , although many things would need to be ruled out before that conclusion is accepted. 

Related: The 10 Weirdest Facts About Venus

The Venus Express spacecraft, a European Space Agency mission that operated between 2005 and 2014, found evidence of lightning on the planet, which formed within clouds of sulfuric acid, unlike Earth's lightning, which forms in clouds of water. Venus' lightning is unique in the solar system. It is of particular interest to scientists because it's possible that electrical discharges from lightning could help form the molecules needed to jumpstart life, which is what some scientists believe happened on Earth. 

Exploring Venus

The United States, Soviet Union, European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency have deployed many spacecraft to Venus — more than 20 so far. NASA's Mariner 2 came within 21,600 miles (34,760 km) of Venus in 1962, making it the first planet to be observed by a passing spacecraft. The Soviet Union's Venera 7 was the first spacecraft to land on another planet, having landed on Venus in December 1970. Venera 9 returned the first photographs of the Venusian surface. The first Venusian orbiter, NASA's Magellan, generated maps of 98% of the planet's surface, showing features as small as 330 feet (100 meters) across.

The European Space Agency's Venus Express spent eight years in orbit around Venus with a large variety of instruments and confirmed the presence of lightning there. In August 2014, as the satellite began wrapping up its mission, controllers engaged in a month-long maneuver that plunged the spacecraft into the outer layers of the planet's atmosphere. Venus Express survived the daring journey , then moved into a higher orbit, where it spent several months. By December 2014, the spacecraft ran out of propellant and eventually burned up in Venus' atmosphere.

Related: Venera timeline: The Soviet Union's Venus missions in pictures

Japan's Akatsuki mission launched to Venus in 2010, but the spacecraft's main engine died during a pivotal orbit-insertion burn, sending the craft hurtling into space. Using smaller thrusters, the Japanese team successfully performed a burn to correct the spacecraft's course. A subsequent burn in November 2015 put Akatsuki into orbit around the planet. In 2017, Akatsuki spotted another huge "gravity wave" in Venus' atmosphere . The spacecraft still orbits Venus to this day, studying the planet's weather patterns and searching for active volcanoes.

As of at least late 2019, NASA and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute have discussed collaborating on the Venera-D mission , which would include an orbiter, a lander and perhaps a solar-powered airship.

"We're at the pen-and-paper stage where we're considering what science questions …we want this mission to answer and what components of a mission would best answer those questions," Tracy Gregg, a planetary geologist at the University at Buffalo, told Space.com in 2018. "The earliest possible launch date we'd be looking at is 2026, and who knows if we could meet that."

NASA has more recently funded several extremely early-stage mission concepts that could look at Venus in the coming decades, under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program. This includes a "steampunk" rover that would use old-school levers instead of electronics (which would fry in Venus' atmosphere) and a balloon that would check out Venus from low altitudes . Separately, some NASA researchers have been investigating the possibility of using airships to explore the more temperate regions of Venus' atmosphere.

In 2021, NASA announced two new missions to Venus that will launch by 2030.

The agency announced on June 2, 2021, that they will be sending missions DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, chosen from a shortlist of four spacecraft, for the next round of Discovery missions to Venus. 

DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging) will dive through the planet's atmosphere, studying how it changes over time. VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy) will map the planet's surface from its orbit using radar. 

On June 12, 2021, ESA announced its next Venus orbiter – EnVision . "A new era in the exploration of our closest, yet wildly different, Solar System neighbour awaits us," Günther Hasinger, ESA's director of science, said in a statement. "Together with the newly announced NASA-led Venus missions, we will have an extremely comprehensive science program at this enigmatic planet well into the next decade." ESA hopes to launch the mission to Venus in the early 2030s.

Private space explorers are also eyeing Venus. Rocket Lab announced in 2020 that it plans to ferry a spacecraft to Venus to deploy a probe within the atmosphere. The spacecraft, according to a 2022 paper , has a 2-pound (1 kg) instrument on board and is designed to survive five minutes in the clouds of Venus in a more temperate, Earth-like zone roughly 30 to 37 miles (48 to 60 kilometers) above the surface. It's all part of a greater search for life on Venus, which got a kick-start that year from an intriguing new study.

Is there life on Venus?

While destinations in our solar system like the moons Enceladus or Titan or even planet Mars are currently the go-to spots to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. 

But a breakthrough scientific discovery in 2020 suddenly had scientists discussing whether or not it was possible that life could somehow exist in the present-day hellish atmospheres of Venus. 

Now, scientists think that it is most likely that, billions of years ago, Venus could have been habitable and fairly similar to current-day Earth. But since then, it has undergone a drastic greenhouse effect that has resulted in Venus' current iteration with scorching surface temperatures and an atmosphere that many describe as "hellish." 

However, in 2020, scientists revealed the discovery of a strange chemical in the planet's clouds that some think could be a sign of life: phosphine. 

Phosphine is a chemical compound that has been seen on Earth as well as on Jupiter and Saturn . Scientists think that, on Venus, it could appear as it does on Earth, for very short amounts of time in the planet's atmosphere. 

But what does this phosphine discovery have to do with the search for life? 

Well, while phosphine exists in strange ways such as rat poison, it has also been spotted alongside groups of certain microorganisms and some scientists think that, on Earth, the compound is produced by microbes as they decay chemically. 

This has caused some to suspect that, if microbes could create phosphine, then perhaps microbes might be responsible for the phosphine in Venus' atmosphere. Since the discovery, there have been follow-up analyses that have made some doubt whether or not the compound is created by microbes, but scientists are continuing to investigate, especially with new missions planned for the planet.

Further, scientists searched for evidence of microbe waste (or poop) in a 2022 study and found no evidence of any activity . There were no spectral "fingerprints" suggesting active life within the atmosphere, which makes the premise of life hard to prove absent more compelling evidence, the authors said.

Science fiction is replete with scenarios where astronauts terraform a planet to make it more Earth-like. How this could happen and whether it is feasible are matters of tremendous uncertainty. Most often, scientists and science fiction fans talk about terraforming Mars because the Red Planet is a little more habitable to humans than Venus (what with the lack of massive active eruptions, as a start.)

Terraforming any planet is sure to bring up ethical questions about how to protect any life that might be there, along with how to preserve any information that life left behind. (Venus is not hospitable to life as we know it, but one can never be too sure.)

Assuming we do want to go ahead with terraforming Venus, working on this would require an ocean and some sort of weathering process, a proposal from 2020 suggests. With enough water (assuming we could access tremendous amounts of the stuff) it might be possible to remove dust from the air and to get the atmospheric carbon dioxide to condense onto the surface. One possible way of making this happen could be to throw immense numbers of icy objects, like comets , into the atmosphere of Venus; how to get that to happen is another question, of course.

A 1991 proposal from British scientist Paul Birch has an alternative method: to somehow send out trillions of tons of hydrogen from gas giant planets like Jupiter. (The hydrogen, he said, would turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into water, with a big side of granite.) Venus would also need to be cooled down from the scorching sun using some kind of  sun shade, which has the side effect of collecting solar energy for potential human or robotic use. 

We asked Jim Garvin (Principal Investigator on NASA's DAVINCI mission to Venus), Stephanie Getty (DAVINCI Deputy Principal Investigator) and Giada Arney (DAVINCI Deputy Principal Investigator) a few frequently asked questions about the planet. 

Why is Venus the hottest planet?

Venus' current environment is the result of a "greenhouse effect" that has allowed its massive CO2 atmosphere to intake the heat of the sun and retain that heat over time like a greenhouse for flowers here on Earth. 

Were it not for this greenhouse effect, even with Venus' location closer to the sun by about 25% relative to our Earth (which means Venus receives twice as much energy from the sun as Earth), its surface and atmosphere may have been more Earth-like in the past, with climate models suggesting that it could have been more clement, i.e., 50–80 degrees C (122–176 F) rather than 440-460 degrees C (824–860 F). 

How Venus developed this greenhouse effect so prominently is a key question about our sister planet. It is possible that sustained volcanism on a planet that lost its surface oceans of liquid water allowed for more heat energy from active eruptions to also heat the atmosphere from below, influencing the thick deck of clouds that serves today to keep the heat deep in Venus's atmosphere. On Earth, carbon dioxide outgassed by volcanoes is recycled back into the planet's interior on geological timescales through plate tectonics; on Venus, with no plate tectonics, carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere as a robust greenhouse gas. 

What color is Venus?

From orbiting spacecraft such as the Venus Express (ESA) and Akatsuki ( JAXA ), the visible "color" of Venus' atmosphere is very bland without the rich colors that one can see for example at Jupiter. 

Venus' atmosphere presents a globally encircling cloud deck tens of km in thickness, made of chemicals that reflect and absorb the illumination form the sun. Due to these sulfuric acid clouds, Venus is effectively white or possibly a very pale yellow to our eyes. These clouds are also very bright, reflecting approximately 70% of the solar energy that hits them back to space. 

The chemistry of the upper atmosphere with its clouds controls what our eyes would see if we were seeing Venus, and the false-color views of the beautiful planet that are often shown reflect the ultraviolet (not visible to human eyes) variations that include a mystery absorber. There is much to learn about the UV, visible, near-infrared and beyond character of the upper atmosphere of Venus, and NASA's DAVINCI mission will carry a new class of "hyperspectral" camera to measure it at very high spectral resolution for the first time from flybys.

Why is Venus sometimes referred to as Earth's twin?

Venus and Earth are very similar in size, bulk density, location relative to our sun (parent star), and that makes us "planetary twins" in one sense. Such similarities are important because Venus did not evolve to be Earth-like for reasons that remain a key question in planetary science. It is possible that Venus was more like Earth in the past, with habitable surface temperatures and oceans of water perhaps up to 300m (984ft) deep (Earth's mean ocean depths are 2700m/8850ft), but over time, the histories of these planets were driven apart. 

There are key differences between modern Earth and Venus. First, Venus receives about twice the energy from the sun as Earth so it will naturally be hotter. Its present atmosphere is dominantly CO2 and 90 times thicker than Earth's atmosphere, rather than Earth's unique N2-O2 atmosphere modified by our planet's biosphere, which is an important difference that reflects its possible history post-formation. 

Venus has a very thick and globally-encircling, cloud deck with the mid-level clouds being made of sulfuric acid droplets (aerosols) and other not yet well-measured gases. Venus is also a slow rotator relative to Earth and in effect, its solar day is longer than the time it takes (one Venus year) to go around the sun, and it even rotates backward relative to the other planets.  This makes it a very unique planet to compare to our Earth with its 24-hour day and 365.25-day year. 

Thus, Venus may be an ideal example of a terrestrial-sized planet that lost its "habitability" over time for various reasons which three upcoming missions will address, each in different ways, in the early to mid-2030s.

DAVINCI will plunge through Venus' atmosphere. What is it designed to look for?

NASA's DAVINCI mission is designed to answer long-standing questions about how Venus's atmosphere evolved and whether there remain chemical signatures of past oceans or even indicators of the role of water in shaping some of the highland regions on Venus, which make up about 8% of the planet's surface area. 

DAVINCI will conduct special flyby remote-sensing observations designed to measure the chemistry and motions of the upper cloud deck, as well as mapping the regional-scale compositional differences between highlands known as tesserae (such as Alpha and Ovda Regio) and the dominant rolling plains that are believed to be basaltic like the lavas that erupt in Hawaii and Iceland. 

DAVINCI also includes a 3.5-foot-diameter deep atmosphere probe, which is a flying chemistry/imaging/environment laboratory that will "take the plunge" into the Venusian atmosphere, and during its hour-long descent from the top of the clouds to the surface in a mountainous region bigger than Texas (Alpha Regio), it will make definitive measurements of noble gases, trace gases, the ratio of heavy to light hydrogen in water vapor and the role of sulfur in trace gases all the way to the foreboding near-surface, while measuring the environmental conditions every 15–50 m. These measurements will help us understand the current state of Venus, its possible past water, and how the planet formed and evolved. 

DAVINCI will also conduct the first-ever descent imaging experiment using a near-infrared camera designed to distinguish rock types from beneath the clouds at scales as fine as ~10m while also measuring topography and landscape geomorphology. Many of DAVINCI's measurements have never been made in any planetary atmosphere before and these new data will inform scientists who build predictive models of how planets with big atmospheres change over time in response to volcanism, large-body impacts, and other effects (e.g., the loss of oceans). 

DAVINCI is intended to fill in gaps that the science community has documented since the mid-1980s while paving the way for understanding how to compare exoplanets that appear to be Venus-like to the "real" Venus. Its measurements and outcomes will inform the history of Venus as a planet with a large atmosphere for decades, and permit other orbiter missions to conduct critical next-generation mapping of the planet's crust and shallow interior. 

In the context of our overall understanding of Venus and its history, how important is it that we understand its atmosphere better?

Venus is noteworthy because of its large atmosphere atop a planetary surface obscured by a thick deck of clouds. As of today (2023), we have very limited knowledge of the chemistry and environments of this atmosphere, especially below the clouds, nor do we understand the critical noble (inert) gases which are "chemical fingerprints" of the history of planetary processes, like "fossils". 

We need to understand Venus to know how our own planet's destiny may unfold over long periods of time and to understand the history of Venus alongside Earth and Mars. While the large, hot, and enigmatic Venusian atmosphere may seem bizarre and even irrelevant, it is Mother Nature's laboratory for us to explore with 21st-century tools (as we have on DAVINCI's deep atmosphere probe) to learn about the details of how another planetary atmosphere–climate–ocean system may have worked. 

We only know our own, and Mars' is too rarified to have been as significant as that of Venus. Thus, Venus is key to understanding how different evolutionary pathways operate for planets of similar sizes and roughly the same distance from the sun. This is an important aspect of what we need to know about Venus as we search for Venus-like exoplanets over the coming decades thanks to observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope .

Put your Venus knowledge to the test with this short Venus quiz. 

Read more about the possibility of life on Venus in this article from The Conversation . Discover every picture from Venus' surface with the Planetary Society . Explore a range of similarities and differences between Earth and Venus with ESA . 

Bibliography

O'Callaghan, Jonathan. " Life on Venus? Scientists hunt for the truth ." Nature 586.7828 (2020): 182-183.

Basilevsky, Alexander T., and James W. Head. " The surface of Venus. " Reports on Progress in Physics 66.10 (2003): 1699.

Kane, Stephen R., et al. " Venus as a laboratory for exoplanetary science. " Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 124.8 (2019): 2015-2028.

Venus: NASA overview Solar System Exploration.

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Chelsea “Foxanne” Gohd joined  Space.com in 2018 and is now a Senior Writer, writing about everything from climate change to planetary science and human spaceflight in both articles and on-camera in videos. With a degree in Public Health and biological sciences, Chelsea has written and worked for institutions including the American Museum of Natural History, Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine and Live Science. When not writing, editing or filming something space-y, Chelsea "Foxanne" Gohd is writing music and performing as Foxanne, even launching a song to space in 2021 with Inspiration4. You can follow her on Twitter  @chelsea_gohd and @foxannemusic .

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