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Venus – Planet · Rocky
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech · Public domain
🪐 Planets · The Rocky Worlds

Venus

Planet · Rocky

Venus is almost Earth’s twin in size, but it is a nightmare world: its thick carbon-dioxide air traps heat so well that it is the hottest planet, and its clouds are made of sulfuric acid. It also spins backwards compared to most planets.

  • 12,104 kmAlmost exactly the same size as Earth!
  • ~465 °CSurface
  • 225 daysYear
🔭 Find it in the sky

Take a closer look

Crushing air pressure

The air on Venus is so thick that standing on the surface would feel like being nearly a kilometre deep in Earth’s ocean – about 90 times the pressure we live in. The Soviet Venera landers that reached the ground survived for two hours at most before the heat and pressure destroyed them.

Seeing through clouds

No camera can see Venus’ surface from space because the clouds never part. Instead, spacecraft like NASA’s Magellan used radar, bouncing radio waves off the ground to map it. They revealed a world covered in lava plains and more large volcanoes than any other planet.

Racing clouds

Venus itself turns incredibly slowly, but its upper clouds whip around the whole planet in only about four Earth days. Their winds reach around 360 km/h – faster than the strongest hurricanes on Earth. Scientists call this “super-rotation”, and they are still working out exactly what powers it.

Size it up

EarthVenus

Almost exactly the same size as Earth! Both are drawn to the same scale.

How we found out

  1. ~1600 BC

    Babylonian astronomers record Venus’ appearances on the “Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa”.

  2. 1610

    Galileo sees Venus go through phases like the Moon – evidence that it orbits the Sun.

  3. 1769

    Expeditions around the world, including James Cook’s, time Venus crossing the Sun to measure the size of the Solar System.

  4. 1962

    Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to successfully fly past another planet.

  5. 1970

    The Soviet Venera 7 makes the first landing on another planet that sends back data.

🤔 Something to wonder about

Venus is further from the Sun than Mercury. Why is it hotter?

See it yourself

The brightest thing in the night sky after the Moon. Look for a brilliant “evening star” after sunset or “morning star” before dawn.

Got it?

Mark Venus as explored to earn 10 XP.