Venus
Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in the Solar System. It is similar to Earth in size and mass, and is often described as Earth’s “sister” or “twin” The possibility of life on Venus has long been a topic of speculation, and in recent years has received active research. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft, and the first to be successfully landed on.
About Venus in brief
Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, meaning that it is a rocky body like Earth. It is similar to Earth in size and mass, and is often described as Earth’s “sister” or “twin” The possibility of life on Venus has long been a topic of speculation, and in recent years has received active research. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft, and the first to be successfully landed on. The diameter of Venus is 12,103. 6 km — only 638. 4 km less than Earth’s—and its mass is 81. 5% of Earth’s. The surface is covered by smooth, volcanic plains, consisting of wrinkle ridges and 10% lobate plains. About 80% of the Venusian surface was covered by 70% volcanic plains. Two highland areas make up the rest of its surface. The rest of the surface was mapped in detail by Magellan in 1990–91. The ground shows evidence of recent volcanism in the atmosphere may indicate that there have been recent eruptions in the planet’s past. It has, by far, the hottest surface of any planet in the solar System, with a mean temperature of 737 K, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from being seen from space in visible light. It may have had water oceans in the past, but these would have vaporized as the temperature rose due to a runaway greenhouse effect.
The water has probably photodissociated and the free hydrogen has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind because of the lack of a planetary magnetic field. Venus has been a major fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed, and has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and a prime inspiration for writers and poets as the “morning star” and “evening star” It was first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC. Due to its proximity to Earth, Venus has. been a prime target for earlyinterplanetary exploration. It is the second-brightest natural object in Earth’s night sky after the Moon, and can be, on rare occasion, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight. The density of Venus’ atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide, with most of the remaining 5% being nitrogen. Venus’ surface is a dry desertscape interspersed with slab-like rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism. The planet’s surface was a subject of speculation until some of its secrets were revealed by science in the 20th century. It takes longer to rotate about its axis than any other planet in. the Solar system by far and does so in the opposite direction to all but Uranus. Venus does not have any moons, a distinction it shares only with Mercury among the planets.
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This page is based on the article Venus published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 22, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
