PLANET OF THE WEEK : venus

The Planet Venus

The Planet Venus is the second closest planet to the sun. It is located between our Earth and Mercury. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Venus is covered with thick clouds that create a greenhouse effect that makes it very hot.
Venus has no moons.

Facts about Planet Venus

* Diameter: 12,100 km. It is about 1040km smaller in diameter than Earth
* Temperature: Ranges from 900F+/- 50F (about 500°C +/- 32°C) at the surface* Distance from Earth: At its closest, Venus is 41,840,000 km away
* Atmosphere: Carbon dioxide (95%), nitrogen, sulfuric acid, and traces of other elements
* Surface: A rocky, dusty, waterless expanse of mountains, canyons, and plains, with a 200-mile river of hardened lava
* Rotation of its axis: 243 Earth days (1 Venusian Day)
* Rotation around the Sun: 225 Earth days
* Magnetic Field: No

Venus is the brightest object in the sky besides our Sun and the Moon. It is also known as the morning star because at sunrise it appears in the east and and evening star as it appears at sunset when it is in the west. It cannot be seen in the middle of the night.
A Venusian day is 243 Earth days and is longer than its year of 225 days. Oddly, Venus rotates from east to west (retrograde - opposite to that of earth). If you were on Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.
Planet Venus SpacecraftVenera: Soviet, Magellan: US Spacecraft
News: Venus Express is the first European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Planet Venus. It will be launched in 26 October 2005 by a Soyuz Fregat Rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft design is derived from the Mars Express spacecraft.

Did you know?
Venus is often called Earth's twin because the two planets are close in size, but that's the only similarity.
The next Transit of Venus will occur on June 6th, 2012.