Venus

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Venus is the closest to us and was considered a "twin sister" untill the 1960's. It was because Venus was so similar to the size of Earth. No other planet comes closer to the Earth than the planet of Venus. The closest it gets is about 23.7 million miles away or 38.2 million kilometers. We have learned that Venus is nothing like that of Earth through 30 years of study. Venus has a thick cloud layer that has caused previous misconception. Astronomers have learned how to peer through Venus' cloud layers and unlock the secrets of this not well known planet through 3 decades. Venus' interior is that of the Earth's with an iron core​.

Venus is the 2 planet from the sun and its orbit takes a period of 225 Earth days. Its radius is an average of 0.7 A.U. One day on Venus is 243 Earth days. Venus has no moons unlike the other planets in the solar system. Venus has a very weak magnetic field probably because of its trouble of having a slow rotational velocity.

Venus is named for the Greek goddess Aphrodite,.because of its love and beauty. It was thought to be made up of two seperate bodies. Venus rotates from east to west unlike the other planets rotating from west to east. Venus is roughly 108,209,000 km. Venus is brighter than any star or planet. Sometimes it is the last planet or star in the eastern sky in the morning. When Venus is the closest it can be seen in daylight at its brighest point.Venus is closest to the sun not including the planet of Mercury.

Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit Venus in 1962. The first photographs of Venus' surface were taken by Verna 9. The U.S spacecraft,Magellan, was the first one to orbit Venus and produce detailed maps of the surface of Venus using radar. Venus' pressure at the surface is 90. It is mostly made up of carbon dioxide. There are several cloud layers many kilometers thick and made up of sulfuric acid. It is what produces a run-away greenhouse effect. It raises the temperature on the surface by about 400 degrees to 700K. That is hot enough to melt even lead. The surface of Venus is hotter than Mercury's even though Venus is twice as far from the sun.

There are strong winds (350 kph) in the cloud tops of Venus but Venus' surface winds are very slow. They don't get more than a few kilometers an hour.

This is a picture of a volcano on Venus' surface.

PICTURES OF VENUS || ||  ||
 * [[image:http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:RMvC-eci1T21LM:http://www.universe99.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/planet_venus_300x300.gif width="116" height="116" link="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.universe99.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/planet_venus_300x300.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.universe99.com/planet-venus/&usg=__DSK7VGs-darXqXNjwb6NJM3KOcY=&h=300&w=300&sz=39&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=RMvC-eci1T21LM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplanet%2Bvenus%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbs%3Disch:1"]]

Venus' conditions of its surface are very different of that on Earth. There have been some difficulties trying to study the planet of Venus because of it always being surrounded by thick clouds made of sulfuric acids. Geologists have used radar, radio astronomy equiptment, space probes to explore the planet of Venus. The surface is extremely hot and dry. The extreme heat would dry up any liquid water so there is no liquid on the planet.

Venus' surface consists mostly of gently rolling plains with little relief. It has several broad depressions. Some of them are Atlanta Planitia, Guinevere Planitia, and Lavinia Planitia. There is also two large highland areas. They are Ishtar Terra and Lakshmi Planum which is surrounded by the mountains on Venus that are the highest. Included in it are the enourmous Maxwell Montes.