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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the hottest planet in the solar system. It is close to Earth in size and rocky structure, but its thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere creates crushing pressure and surface heat hot enough to melt lead. Here are 10 facts that explain what makes our neighboring planet so unusual.
What Venus is like
1. It is the hottest planet in the solar system
Venus is hotter than Mercury, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. NASA attributes Venus’s extreme heat to a runaway greenhouse effect: its thick atmosphere traps heat. NASA Science puts the surface temperature at about 467 °C (872 °F), hot enough to melt lead. NASA Science: Venus facts
2. It is similar to Earth in size, but not in conditions
Venus is often called Earth’s twin because the two planets are similar in size and structure. The resemblance ends quickly at the surface: Venus has intense heat, crushing pressure, and a very different atmosphere. NASA Science: Venus facts
3. Its air is mostly carbon dioxide
NASA’s Venus fact sheet lists the near-surface atmosphere as 96.5% carbon dioxide and 3.5% nitrogen by volume. The planet’s dense clouds are made of sulfuric acid. NASA NSSDC: Venus fact sheet and NASA Science: Venus facts
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4. The pressure at the surface is crushing
NASA describes the pressure at Venus’s surface as about 93 times Earth’s sea-level pressure. It is a hostile environment for spacecraft as well as people. NASA Science: Venus facts
How Venus moves
5. A Venus rotation takes longer than its year
Venus takes about 243.69 Earth days to complete one sidereal rotation—one turn relative to distant stars. Its trip around the Sun takes about 224.7 Earth days, so its rotation period is longer than its orbital year. NASA NSSDC: Venus fact sheet
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6. Its solar day is shorter, and the Sun rises in the west
A solar day is the time from one sunrise to the next. On Venus, that takes about 116.75 Earth days. Venus rotates in the opposite direction to most planets, so the Sun appears to rise in the west and set in the east. This solar day is a different measurement from the longer sidereal rotation period. NASA NSSDC: Venus fact sheet and NASA Science: Venus facts
7. Venus has no natural moon
Venus has no natural satellite. The asteroid Zoozve is sometimes found near Venus, but it orbits the Sun and is classified as a quasi-satellite—not a moon orbiting Venus. NASA Science: Venus facts
What we can see and what spacecraft found
8. Venus has volcanoes and mountains beneath its clouds
Thick clouds block ordinary visible-light views of Venus’s surface. NASA’s Magellan spacecraft used radar to map the landscape, revealing mountains and volcanic terrain. The mapping shows a volcanic world; it does not by itself establish that a particular volcano is erupting now. NASA Science: Venus facts and NASA Space Place: All About Venus
9. Venus shows phases from Earth
Through binoculars or a telescope, Venus appears in phases, much like the Moon. Galileo’s observations of those phases provided important evidence for the heliocentric model, in which Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun. NASA Science: Venus facts
10. Radar helps reveal the planet hidden from view
Because clouds obscure the surface in visible light, radar is a valuable way to study Venus’s terrain. Magellan’s radar mapping made it possible to examine features such as volcanic landscapes that cannot be seen clearly through the cloud cover. NASA Science: Venus facts
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