Facts about Venus

As the second planet to the Sun in the solar system, it is the closest neighbor to the Earth. Known commonly as Morning or Evening star, Venus appears in the sky just before sunrise or just after sunset. It is brighter than stars and can be seen in broad daylight. It is called an inferior planet as it is closer to the sun than the Earth. The planet is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Many space missions sent by both USA and USSR have given more details about the planet. Some of the space missions are still in the orbit round the planet. Many interesting features and facts about the planet have been revealed by the studies made from different missions. This was an attempt to see the overall view of the researches made so far. Let us have a look at some of the interesting facts about Venus in the following paragraphs.

Facts about the Planet Venus
Venus can be termed as a mystery planet as no telescope has been able to penetrate a view through the planets thick atmosphere. Venus is covered with thick clouds containing sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid. The planet can be observed only through by radar mapping, or by landing on the surface by probes.

Physical Characters
Just like the Earth, Venus has silicon rock on its surface. Because of that, it is called a Terrestrial planet and considered to be a sister planet of the Earth. Though it is similar to the Earth in size and composition, it has dense atmosphere mainly consisting of carbon dioxide. For this very reason, the possibility of organic life in the planet is very remote.

Its atmosphere has clouds of sulfuric acid, which reflects the sunrays. This makes the atmosphere difficult to observe from the space in visible light. It is so hot that the ocean-like water bodies have been completely evaporated. The rich carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the sulfur dioxide clouds are responsible for the high temperature on the surface. The hot surface of Venus is hotter than the Mercury's even though it is twice as much in distance as mercury is from the sun. The atmospheric pressure of the Venus is more than 90 times of the Earth.

Venus and the Earth
The Venus has a diameter of 95% of the Earth, just 650 km less than the Earth. Compared to Earth it is less in weight, having 81.55 of the Earth's mass. Its surface area is about 90% of the Earth's. The Venus has an axial tilt of 2.64 degrees. The orbital period of Venus is 224.7 days. The winds on the top of the clouds are very strong but the same of the surface of the Venus is very low, a few kilometers speed. Volcanic plains occupy the major surface area of the Mars. It has been estimated that it has about 167 giant volcanoes of 100km across. The clouds have no water vapor. The surface of Venus has high mountains of volcanic nature, rift valleys and meteor craters.

In many physical aspects it resembles the Earth and is called sister planet of the Earth, in many aspects it differs from the Earth. Unlike the Earth, it has a slow rotational period around the Sun. There is no satellite for Venus. The extremely weak magnetic field, lack of water and high surface temperature and dense atmosphere are some of the points where the planet differs from the Earth.

Greenhouse Effect
The carbon dioxide and the water vapor are called greenhouse gases. They have the property of absorbing the infrared radiation emitted by the sunlight falling on the surface of the Venus. The absorption results in the high temperature of the surface. This effect is called greenhouse effect. All planets have this effect and this effect is responsible for the planet to be warmer or otherwise.

The effect is called 'runaway greenhouse effect', if the temperature reaches the boiling point of water. This temperature could bring the ocean to a boil, which will produce further water vapor. The newly produced water vapor increases the effect of greenhouse, which in turn increase the temperature.

Impact Crater
It is a depression formed by a high velocity object on the surface of any planet. It may be of any shape and size. Meteor crater is one example of impact crater our planet has. The surface of the Venus has many such impact craters, which offer many information about the planet. There are many broad depressions seen on Venus. These depressions are named: Atalanta Planitia, Guinevere Planitia, and Lavinia Planitia. A large highland is observed in the northern hemisphere of the planet called Ishtar Terra. Another, highland called Aphrodite Terra is seen along the equator.

Rotation
Venus has a very thick atmosphere that causes it to spin slowly. It takes a longer time for Venus to turn on its axis, than it takes to complete its orbit around the sun. when it comes to rotations, it is the only planet to rotate clockwise. All other planets rotate counter-clockwise. It is thought the planet may have collided with another space object, causing it to change its rotational path. This rotation of Venus is also called 'retrograde rotation'. One of the weird facts about Venus includes that this planet has no natural satellite. The asteroid 2002 VE68 maintains a quasi-orbital relationship with Venus.

Current mission
Russian Federal Space Agency's successful space shuttle called the Venus Express was positioned in the Venus orbit on 11th April 2006. It is undertaking a detailed study of Venus. The probe will last for 500 earth days or two Venusian years. Its first result has already been published as to the existence of atmospheric vortex at the south pole of the planet. NASA's MESSENGER mission used two flybys from Mercury to Venus. It reached Venus in October 2006 and the other reached in June 2007. The Japanese launched a Venus orbiter, Akatsuki on May 20, 2010. However, it failed to enter the orbit in December 2010. In 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) hopes to launch a mission to Mercury. This mission will perform two flybys to Venus, before the mission reaches Mercury orbit in 2020.

The planet Venus has many historic connections with the people of various countries. Its brightness has fascinated many. Not only the scientific world but also the common people are curiously awaiting the facts about this planet that future missions may put forth to the mankind.