Venus

The second planet from the Sun, it is similiar in size and structure to the Earth. It is covered by thick, unbroken clouds. This conceals a hostile enviroment of extreme temperatures and pressures. What un-manned probes have revealed is a desolate surface shaped by volcanic activty. Some of these volcanoes were more than 60 miles across. This volcanism occured around 500 million years ago. There may be some small regions of volcanic activity on Venus still to this day. In the past, it may have been suggested that Venus have oceans under its thick clouds, however, it is known today that no liquid water is present.

Venus orbits the Sun in 224.7 Earth days. It also spins on its axis every 243 Earth days. That being said, a day on Venus lasts longer than its year. Its rotational axis is tilted at 177.4 degrees. The north pole is at the bottom of the Planet. It appears to spin in the opposite direction of the other planets, besides Uranus, whose spin is nearly horizontal. Structurally, Venus resembles Earth. It has a solid and metallic inner core, a molten metallic outer crust, a rocky mantle and a solid crust. The atmosphere is extremely thick. There is a pressure of about 92 Earth atmospheres at the surface. The atmosphere forms huge swirling vortices above the poles. The dense clouds contain sulfuric acid, which creates a powerfiul greenhouse effect, and creating a surface temperature of 464 degrees celcius.

Venus has the most circular orbit of all the planets. It's rotation period of 243 Earth days is also longer than any planet.

Venus has a solid nickle-iron core, a molten nickle-iron outer core, a rocky mantle and a silicate crust. This is a similiar structure to that of the Earth.

The atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide. There are small amounts of nitrogen and trace gases. The clouds of Venus also contain sulfuric acid.

Venus is one of the easiest planets to observe because of its brightness. It is brighter than anything else in the sky, besides the Sun and the Moon. Venus is visible in certain times of the year, either before sunrise or after sunset. It appears close to the Sun in the sky.

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