Venus is also known as Earth's sister planet or Earth's twin because they are very similar.- Venus is roughly the same size as Earth, and only a little closer to the Sun.
- Venus is the 2nd planet from the Sun. It sits between Mercury and Earth.
- Venus has been known since prehistoric times. Because it is between us and the Sun it can appear in Earth's sky in the morning and the evening and so was thought to be two separate planets.
- Venus is named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
- Venus is a terrestrial planet, like Earth.
- Venus is only a little smaller than Earth.
- Venus is bigger than both Mercury and Mars.
- If the Sun were hollow you could fit roughly 1.5 million planets the size of Venus inside.
- The Earth's gravity is measured as 1 unit of gravity. The gravity on all other planets is taken as a multiple of Earth's.
- Venus' gravity is 90% that of Earth so objects on Venus would weight almost as much as they do on Earth.
- A 100 lb person on Earth would weigh 90 lbs on Venus.
- A day on Venus 243 Earth days long!
- A year on Venus is 225 Earth days long.
- This makes Venus the only planet on which its day is actually longer than its year!
- Venus has the longest day of any planet in our Solar System.
- The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1 AU and is used to measure distance in our Solar System. Venus is 0.72 AU from the Sun.
- Because Venus is closer to the Sun it only takes the light from the Sun 6 minutes to reach it.
- Venus has no moons.
- Venus does not have rings.
- Venus and Uranus are the only two planets in our Solar System to spin in a clockwise direction, not counterclockwise, like the rest of the planets.
- Therefore, if you could stand on the surface of Venus you would see the Sun rise in the West and set in the East, the exact opposite to Earth!
- Venus has a very thick atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide (96%) and Nitrogen (3.5%); no living thing can survive on Venus.
- Venus has several layers of clouds, many kilometers thick, composed of sulfuric acid, which completely block our view of the surface. If you could stand on Venus the sulfuric acid would melt your skin off!
- Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System, hotter even than Mercury, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun.
- Surface temperatures on Venus are hot enough to melt lead!
