![]() True colour image of Venus, as captured by MESSENGER. A cloud layer permanently obscures the surface. | |||||||||||||||||
Designations | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pronunciation | /ˈviːnəs/ ⓘ | ||||||||||||||||
Named after | Roman goddess of love (see goddess Venus) | ||||||||||||||||
Adjectives | Venusian /vɪˈnjuːziən, -ʒən/,[1] rarely Cytherean /sɪθəˈriːən/[2] or Venerean / Venerian /vɪˈnɪəriən/[3] | ||||||||||||||||
Symbol | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||
Orbital characteristics[4][5] | |||||||||||||||||
Epoch J2000 | |||||||||||||||||
Aphelion | 0.728213 AU (108.94 million km) | ||||||||||||||||
Perihelion | 0.718440 AU (107.48 million km) | ||||||||||||||||
0.723332 AU (108.21 million km) | |||||||||||||||||
Eccentricity | 0.006772[6] | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
583.92 days[4] | |||||||||||||||||
Average orbital speed | 35.02 km/s | ||||||||||||||||
50.115° | |||||||||||||||||
Inclination |
| ||||||||||||||||
76.680°[6] | |||||||||||||||||
54.884° | |||||||||||||||||
Satellites | None | ||||||||||||||||
Physical characteristics | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Flattening | 0[8] | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Volume |
| ||||||||||||||||
Mass |
| ||||||||||||||||
Mean density | 5.243 g/cm3 | ||||||||||||||||
8.87 m/s2 (0.904 g0) | |||||||||||||||||
10.36 km/s (6.44 mi/s)[10] | |||||||||||||||||
−116.75 d (retrograde)[11]
1 Venus solar day | |||||||||||||||||
−243.0226 d (retrograde)[12] | |||||||||||||||||
Equatorial rotation velocity | 1.81 m/s | ||||||||||||||||
2.64° (for retrograde rotation) 177.36° (to orbit)[4][note 1] | |||||||||||||||||
North pole right ascension | |||||||||||||||||
North pole declination | 67.16°[14] | ||||||||||||||||
Albedo | |||||||||||||||||
Temperature | 232 K (−41 °C) (blackbody temperature)[17] | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Surface absorbed dose rate | 2.1×10−6 μGy/h[18] | ||||||||||||||||
Surface equivalent dose rate | 2.2×10−6 μSv/h 0.092–22 μSv/h at cloud level[18] | ||||||||||||||||
−4.92 to −2.98[19] | |||||||||||||||||
−4.4[20] | |||||||||||||||||
9.7″–66.0″[4] | |||||||||||||||||
Atmosphere[4] | |||||||||||||||||
Surface pressure | 93 bar (9.3 MPa) 92 atm | ||||||||||||||||
Composition by volume |
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet, having the closest orbit and the most similar mass and size to Earth among the planets of the Solar System. While both are rocky planets, Venus has a significantly thicker and denser atmosphere than Earth and any other rocky planet in the Solar System. It is composed of mostly carbon dioxide (CO2), with a global sulfuric acid cloud cover and no liquid water. At the average surface level the atmosphere reaches a temperature of 737 K (464 °C; 867 °F) and a pressure 92 times greater than Earth's at sea level, turning the lowest layer of the carbon dioxide atmosphere into a supercritical fluid. Venus is the third brightest object in Earth's sky, after the Moon and the Sun,[21][22] and, like Mercury, always appears relatively close to the Sun, either as a "morning star" or an "evening star", resulting from orbiting closer (inferior) to the Sun than Earth.
While the orbit of Venus is the closest to Earth's, the most inferior orbiting Mercury stays for a longer time closer to all the superior orbiting planets, Venus and Earth approaching each other in synodic periods of 1.6 years. Venus though is the planet with the lowest delta-v needed to travel to from Earth, and is therefore often used for gravity assists and as a common waypoint for interplanetary flights from Earth. A Venusian day is 116.75 Earth days long, about half a Venusian solar year, which is 224.7 Earth days long. The rotation of Venus has been slowed and turned against its orbital direction (retrograde) by the currents and drag of its atmosphere.[23]
Internally, Venus has a core, mantle, and crust. Venus lacks an internal dynamo, and its weakly induced magnetosphere is caused by atmospheric interactions with the solar wind. Internal heat escapes through active volcanism,[24][25] resulting in resurfacing instead of plate tectonics. Venus has no moons, the only planet in the Solar System together with Mercury that has none.[26] Venus may have had liquid surface water early in its history with a habitable environment,[27][28] before a runaway greenhouse effect evaporated any water and turned Venus into its present state.[29][30][31] Currently conditions at the cloud layer of Venus have been identified as perhaps favourable for life on Venus, wich has spured new research and missions to Venus.
Venus has been a feature found in cultures for thousands of years and was crucial in the development of astronomy. The first telescopic observations of Venus in 1610 crucially proved the heliocentric model. In 1961 Venus was for the first time visited by a spacecraft (Venera 1), as a result of the very first interplanetary flight, but only the next interplantary spacecraft, a year later, returned data (Mariner 2). Furthermore in 1967 the first atmospheric entry (Venera 4) and in 1970 the first soft landing (Venera 7) took place, the first on another planet than Earth. The study of Venus has informed the understanding of the greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change on Earth.[32] Currently there are no active, but a range of planed Venus missions.
Lexico_Venusian
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
fact
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
horizons
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
VSOP87
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Souami_Souchay_2012
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Seidelmann2007
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Konopliv1999
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
NASA_2015
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
planetary-facts
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Margot_et_al_2021
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
iauwg_ccrsps2000
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Mallama_et_al
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Haus_et_al
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
American Chemical Society 2013
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
radiation-levels
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Mallama_and_Hilton
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Lawrence_2005
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Walker_2017
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
NASA_2019
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
NYT-20231026
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
NA-20231026
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Jakosky
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Hashimoto_et_al_2008
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Shiga_2007
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Newitz 2013
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search