Venus

Venus

·       Introduction

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is known as for the Roman deity of affection and sweetness. The planet — the sole planet named once a feminine — might are named for the foremost lovely divinity of her pantheon as a result of it shone the brightest of the five planets known to ancient astronomers.

In history, Venus was typically thought to be 2 totally different stars, the planet and also the daystar — that's, the ones that first appeared at sunset and sunrise. In Latin, they were respectively referred to as Vesper and Lucifer. In Christian times, Lucifer, or "light-bringer," became called the name of Satan before his fall. However, any observations of Venus within the time show a awfully hellish setting. This makes Venus a awfully tough planet to watch from up shut, as a result of ballistic capsule don't survive long on its surface.

·        Physical characteristics

Venus and Earth area unit typically known as twins as a result of they're similar in size, mass, density, composition and gravity. However, the similarities end there

Venus is that the hottest world within the scheme. Although Venus is not the planet closest to the sun, its dense atmosphere traps heat in a runaway version of the greenhouse effect that warms Earth. As a result, temperatures on Venus reach 870 degrees Fahrenheit (465 degrees Celsius), over hot enough to soften lead. Probes that scientists have landed there have survived only a few hours before being destroyed.

Venus features a hellish atmosphere also, consisting chiefly of dioxide with clouds of acid, and scientists have only detected trace amounts of water in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is heavier than that of the other planet, resulting in a surface pressure ninety times that of Earth. Incredibly, however, early in Venus' history the world could are livable , according to models from NASA researchers at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

The surface of Venus is extremely dry. During its evolution, ultraviolet rays from the sun gaseous water quickly, keeping it during a prolonged melted  state. There is no liquid water on its surface these days as a result of the hot heat created by its ozone-filled atmosphere would cause any to boil away. Roughly simple fraction of the Venusian surface is roofed by flat, sleek plains that area unit marred by thousands of volcanoes, some which are still active today, ranging from about 0.5 to 150 miles (0.8 to 240 kilometers) wide, with lava flows carving long, winding canals up to more than 3,000 miles (5,000 km) in length, longer than on any other planet.

·       Orbital characteristics

If viewed from on top of, Venus rotates on its axis the opposite way that most planets rotate. That means on Venus, the sun would appear to rise in the west and set in the east. On Earth, the sun seems to rise within the east and set within the west.

The Venusian year — the time it takes to orbit the sun — is regarding 225 Earth-days long. Normally, that might mean that days on Venus would be longer than years. However, due to Venus' curious retrograde rotation, the time from one sunrise to following is simply regarding 117 Earth-days long. [Gallery: Transit of Venus from June five, 2012, when the planet transited in front of the sun for the last time until the year 2117.

·        Composition & structure

Atmospheric composition (by volume): 96.5 percent carbon dioxide, 3.5 percent nitrogen, with minor amounts of sulfur dioxide, argon, water, carbon monoxide, helium and neon.

Magnetic field: 0.000015 times that of Earth's field.

Internal structure: Venus' metallic  iron core is roughly two,400 miles (6,000 km) wide. Venus' liquid rocky mantle is roughly one,200 miles (3,000 km) thick. Venus' crust is mostly basalt, and is estimated to be six to 12 miles (10 to 20 km) thick on average.