Venus

		Diameter	7,521 miles (12,104 km)
		Average Distance from Sun	67,200,000 miles (108,200,000 km)
		Planet Composition	rock surrounding an iron core
		Atmosphere	dense carbon dioxide
		Average Temperature	+867°F (464°C)
		Number of Moons	0
		Orbital Period	224.7 days
		Period of Rotation	243 days retrograde

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. It is even hotter than Mercury, which is closer to the Sun. It is hotter because it has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere that acts like a huge greenhouse, trapping heat from the Sun.

The atmosphere on Venus is so dense that is would crush you. It presses down with 90 times more pressure than Earth's atmosphere.

Venus is completely covered by clouds of sulfuric acid droplets -- the same chemical that is in a car battery. It corrodes metal and burns skin instantly. Repeated volcanic eruptions created and continue to replenish the sulfuric acid clouds. The photo above shows only the dense, swirling cloud tops that always hide this planet.

Using an imaging radar technique, the Magellan spacecraft produced this image of Venus' surface.

Venus has a bizarre surface. Using radar, we can see that its rocky surface is covered with impact craters, vast lava plains, and numerous volcanoes.

Venus moves strangely through space. It rotates in the opposite direction from the other planets (retrograde rotation), and it rotates more slowly than it orbits the sun. It takes longer for Venus to turn around its axis once than it does to go around the Sun once. Because of the speed and direction of rotation, an observer on Venus would see the sun rise, set, and rise again in 117 days, although a complete planetary rotation takes 243 days.

Venus is only slightly smaller than Earth, is made from similar rocky materials, and orbits about three fourths of Earth's distance from the Sun. It is Earth's closest planetary neighbor. Because of these similarities, it has been called Earth's sister planet.

Venus cannot compete with the Sun's gravity to hold onto a moon, so it has no natural satellites.

Venus: Planet 2