Venus Planet Profile
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Diameter:
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12,104 km (7,521.1 mi)
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Mass:
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4.87 x 10^24 kg (81.5% Earth)
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Moons:
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None
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Orbit Distance:
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108,209,475 km (67,238,250.5 mi) (0.73 AU)
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Orbit Period:
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225 days
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Surface Temperature:
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462 °C (863.6 °F)
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First Record:
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17th century BC
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Recorded By:
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Babylonian astronomers
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Detailed Venus Facts
- 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 know as a retrograde rotation. A possible reason might be a collision in the past with an asteroid or other object that caused the planet to alter its rotational path. It also differs from most other planets in our solar system by having no natural satellites.
- Venus is the third brightest object in the sky.
Only the Sun and Moon are 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.
While its size and mass are similar to Earth, the small asteroids are crushed when entering its atmosphere, meaning no small craters lie on the surface of the planet. The pressure felt by a human on the surface would be equivalent to that experienced 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 (396.4 mi) difference in diameter, Venus having 81.5% of the Earth's mass. Both also have a central core, a molten mantle and a crust.
- Venus is also known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star.
Early civilisations thought Venus was two different bodies, called Phosphorus and Hesperus by the Greeks, and Lucifer and Vesper by the Romans. This is because when its 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 (863.6 °F), 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 spacecraft was sent into orbit around Venus by the European Space Agency, and sent back information about the planet. Originally planned to last five hundred Earth days, the mission was extended several times before the craft was finally deorbited in 2015. More than 1,000 volcanoes or volcanic centers larger than 20 km (12.4 mi) 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 and measure the extreme temperatures and hostile environment. It is thought Venus did once have oceans but these evaporated as the planets temperature increased.
- Science Fiction Books - Venus
- Asimov, Isaac (writing as Paul French)
- Lucky Starr
- Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus (1954)
- - Synopsis -
Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus was written in the mid-1950s, when little was known about Venus apart from its mass, volume, orbital characteristics, and the fact of its unbroken cloud cover. Asimov assumed that Venus has a temperate climate, with a period of rotation of 36 hours, a planet-wide ocean covering the surface, and an atmosphere that is 90% nitrogen and 10% carbon dioxide; that the planetary ocean is covered with blue-green native vegetation; and that native animals inhabit the ocean. These animals, many of them phosphorescent, include an aggressive carnivore called an orange patch that shoots a jet of water at its prey, and the V-frogs, small amphibians that the human colonists keep as pets. Asimov's Venus has a human population of six million living in some fifty domed cities on the ocean floor. The largest Venusian city is Aphrodite, with a population of a quarter million. The chief exports are fertilizer made from the native vegetation, and animal feed derived from cultivated yeast.
- Burroughs, Edgar Rice
- Carson of Venus Series
- Pirates of Venus (1934)
- Lost on Venus (1935)
- Carson of Venus (1939)
- Escape on Venus (1946)
- The Wizard of Venus (1964)
- - Synopsis -
Covered by clouds and shrouded in mystery, the planet Venus was the last place Carson Napier (a somewhat more cautious hero than John Carter), expected to touch down when he launched his secret rocket ship to Mars. But a miscalculation sent him hurtling out of control through the cloaking mists of Earth's sister world. When Carson Napier's giant rocket crash landed on planet Venus, he knew that there would be no return to Earth for him. His problem was to survive some how until other Earth rockets could follow. Beneath the cloud cover of Venus, Carson discovers a world of sky-high trees, warring kingdoms and princesses in need of rescue. But, more often than not, it seems that Carson is the one in need of rescuing! Venus was a place of unmapped oceans dotted with great islands; a world with mammoth forests whose trees pierced the clouds and whose cities squatted on their branches and winged men flew. A planet whose inhabitants included men, half-men, and monsters, all struggling with each other for dominance.
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