10 Facts About Venus

10 Facts About Venus 1 Venus is the Brightest Planet in the Night's Sky Venus is actually the second brightest object in the sky, but only second to the Moon, which is significantly closer than Venus. 2) Venus is the Hottest Planet in the Solar System Venus isn't the closest planet to Sun, like Mercury, but it's the hottest planet. Venus can get so hot lead would melt on its surface, over 800 degrees Fahrenheit. 3 1 Venusian Day is Longer than 1 Venusian Year Venus completes an orbit around the Sun every 225 Earth days. It takes 243 Earth days for Venus to rotate around its axis once. EARTH 4 Venus has the Most Volcanoes of any Planet Venus has more than 1,600 recorded and knOwn volcanoes as of foday. There are many more small ones which haven't been mapped and classified, yet. 5 The Soviets were the First to Venus The former Soviet Union launched Venera 1 on February 12, 1961, 7 days later and roughly 62,000 miles from Venus it lost communications. On August 27, 1962 Mariner 2 was launched by NASA and became the first spacecraft to successfully make planetary contact with Venus and transmit back data. 6 Venus is Under Serious Pressure The pressure on Venus is more than 90 times what it is on Earth. That's like the pressure of all the water on top of you if you were over half a mile below the surface of an ocean on Earth. 7) Venus Rotates in Reverse All planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun in a counter-clockwise direction around their axes, Venus rotates in a clockwise rotation around its axis. 8 Venus has the Slowest Rotation The equator on Venus rotates at only 4 miles per hour. To put this into perspective, the equator on Earth rotates nearly 1,040 miles per hour. 9 Venus is Earth's Sister Planet They are very similar in size and mass; Venus is less than 403 miles in diameter smaller than the Earth and 80% the mass of Earth. Venus and Earth are also both terrestrial planets, meaning they have a rocky surface and volcanoes. 10 It's Super Windy on Venus Venus has both upper and lower atmospheric winds. The upper atmosphere has very fast winds, reaching nearly 230 miles per hour. The lower afmospheric winds are pretty slow, as slow as just a few miles per hour. Astronomy Is Awesome www.astronomyisawesome.com