Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and Earth’s closest planetary neighbor. Beneath its brilliant white clouds lies the hottest surface of any planet — hot enough to melt lead — the result of a runaway greenhouse effect driven by a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere.
| Distance from Sun | 67 million miles (108 million km) — 0.72 AU |
| Diameter | 7,521 miles (12,104 km) |
| Length of day | 243 Earth days (longer than its year) |
| Length of year | 225 Earth days |
| Moons | 0 |
| Temperature | ~872°F (467°C) at the surface |
| Atmosphere | Mostly carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid |
Interesting facts
- Venus rotates backwards compared to most planets, and so slowly that its day is longer than its year.
- The surface pressure on Venus is about 93 times that of Earth at sea level — similar to being nearly a mile underwater in Earth’s oceans.
- Venus has no moons, but it does have a tiny quasi-satellite, nicknamed Zoozve, that shares its orbit around the Sun.
- NASA’s Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to visit another planet when it flew past Venus in 1962.
- Two new NASA missions, VERITAS and DAVINCI, are being developed to study Venus’s surface and atmosphere in greater detail.