Welcome to Venus

Are you looking for a planet similar to Earth? Then travel to Venus, Earth's twin sister. However, the only things they have in common are:

      • Both are about the same size with Earth being only slightly larger than Venus.
      • Both have craters which tell scientists that they are relatively new planets.
      • Their densities and chemical composition are almost the same.
      • There are volcanoes on both planets.
      • Some scholars even believe that Venus and Earth were formed from the same nebula.

Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun with Mercury being closest. Venus rotates on its axis slower than any other planet, which means its day is 243 Earth days. Because of its slow rotation, there is no magnetic field. It takes Venus 225 Earth days to circle the Sun. Therefore, on Venus a year is actually shorter than a day! Venus has no satellites or moons.

At one time Venus is said to have had water, but because of its proximity to the Sun, the water has boiled away. The atmosphere on Venus is very dense and consists mostly of carbon dioxide. Its clouds contain sulfuric acid.

The surface temperature of Venus is about 482° C (900° F). What happens is that the Sun's rays pass through the dense atmosphere and heat the surface of the planet. But the dense atmosphere acts like a greenhouse and traps the heat. Because of these factors, Venus is actually hotter than Mercury, which is closer to the Sun.

The atmosphere of Venus also protects it from small meteors. Of course, larger meteorites can break through the dense atmosphere and cause large craters on the planet's surface. In most cases impact from large meteorites create volcanoes or volcanic action along the outer crust. Upon impact, the meteorite activates the magma chambers which lead to Venus's core of iron. Inactive dome volcanoes come alive and spew thick lava over the planet's surface.

One source says that at least 85% of the Venusian surface is covered with volcanic rock. It is also estimated that there are more than 100,000 small shield volcanoes with hundreds of larger ones. Lava has flooded the lowlands and created large plains. As the lava flows across the surface channels are created. One of the longest channels extends almost 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles).

The first spacecraft to visit Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962. In 1978 NASA's Pioneer Venus mission visited Venus. In 1983 and 1984 the Soviets sent their Venera spacecrafts to explore the planet. Then between 1990 and 1994 NASA sent its spacecraft Magellan on a radar mapping mission which Four of the most successful missions in revealing the Venusian surface are NASA's Pioneer Venus mission (1978), the Soviet Union's Venera 15 and 16 missions (1983-1984), and NASA's Magellan radar mapping mission (1990-1994). It has been visited by more than 20 spacecrafts already. To see all the missions to Venus from Earth, go to Chronology of Space Exploration.

Check out other interesting sites about the Venus:

| California Institute of Technology | Science at NASA: Blazing Venus |
| Enchanted Learning.com | Science Master: Planet Venus |

More links to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Solar System:

| Home | Introduction |
| Picture (Courtesy of SEDS)|
| Sun | Mercury | Venus | Earth | Mars |
| Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Pluto |

| Credits | Sources | Glossary |