The Universe Made Simple/The Solar System/Venus

Venus

The next planet on our journey outwards is Venus, the 6th largest planet. Venus’ orbit is nearly circular. It is the brightest object in the sky from Earth except for the Sun and the Moon. One Venus day is equivalent to 243 Earth days. However Venus is very similar to Earth and regarded as Earth’s sister planet. It is 95% of Earth’s diameter and 80% of its mass.

The physical makeup of Venus used to consist of large amounts of water which have since boiled away. The surface is made of gently rolling plains, several broad depressions as well as two large highland areas. Much of the surface is covered in lava flow. Venus also has several large shield volcanoes on its surface. The oldest terrain on Venus is 800 million years old because volcanism has erased all the previous surfaces. The interior is similar of Venus is similar to that of the Earth. The atmosphere is mostly made of carbon dioxide with several layers of clouds many kilometers thick made of sulfuric acid. There is no magnetic field and no moons.