Venus - The Second Rocky Planet

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Venus Venus

It has been said that Women are from this brilliant planet. It shines brighter than all the stars and planets. Venus gets its name from Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Here are some cool facts about this lovely planet:

Distance from Sun:
Aphelion: 108,942,109 km (0.728 AU)
Perehelion: 107,476,259 km (0.718 AU)
Size:
Volume: 9.38x1011 km3
Diameter: 12,103.6 km
Mass: 4.869x1024 kg
Motion:
Year: 224.7 E Days
Day: 243 E Days
Other:
Gravity: 0.9 of Earth's
Temperature: -460°C

The pressure of Venus' atmosphere at the surface is 90 atmospheres (about the same as the pressure at a depth of 1 km in Earth's oceans). It is composed mostly of carbon dioxide. There are several layers of clouds many kilometers thick composed of sulfuric acid. These clouds completely obscure our view of the surface. The dense atmosphere produces a inescapable greenhouse effect that raises Venus' surface temperature by about 400 degrees to over 740K. Venus' surface is actually hotter than Venus's even though it's twice as far from the Sun.

 
Missions to Venus

Venus has had a small fleet of spacecraft visit it. Here is a list of successful probes:

# Name Launch Date Closest Approach Mission End Date
1 Mariner 2 09/27/1962 12/14/1962 01/03/1963
2 Venera 4 06/12/1967 10/18/1967 10/18/1967
3 Mariner 5 06/14/1967 10/19/1967 11/05/1968
4 Venera 5 01/05/1969 05/16/1969 05/16/1969
5 Venera 6 01/10/1969 05/17/1969 05/17/1969
6 Venera 7 08/17/1970 12/15/1970 12/16/1970
7 Venera 8 03/27/1972 07/22/1972 07/22/1972
8 Mariner 10 11/03/1973 02/05/1974 03/16/1975
9 Venera 9 06/08/1975 10/22/1975 12/25/1975
10 Venera 10 06/14/1975 10/25/1975 ?
11 Pioneer Venus 1
05/20/1978 12/04/1978 08/1992
12 Pioneer Venus 2 08/08/1978 12/09/1978 12/09/1978
13 Venera 11 09/09/1978 12/25/1978 12/25/1978
14 Venera 12 09/14/1978 12/21/1978 12/21/1978
15 Venera 13 10/30/1981 03/01/1982 03/01/1982
16 Venera 14 11/04/1981 03/05/1982 03/05/1982
17 Venera 15 06/02/1983 10/10/1983 07/1984
18 Venera 16 06/07/1983 10/14/1983 07/1984
19 Vega 1 12/15/1984 06/11/1985 01/30/1987
20 Vega 2 12/21/1984 06/15/1985 03/24/1987
21 Galileo 10/18/1989 02/10/1990 09/21/2003
22 Magellan 05/04/1989 08/10/1990 10/12/1994
23 Cassini/Huygens 10/15/1997 04/26/1998
06/24/1999
Active
24 Venus Express 11/09/2005 04/11/2006 Active
25 Messenger 08/03/2004 10/24/2006
06/05/2007
Active
 

Venus Venus Gallery

Venus is our closest neighbor, but it's covered in clouds and it's very difficult to get pictures. Here's some anyway.

Venus 1Venus 1 Venus 2Venus 2 Venus 3Venus 3 Venus Radar Map 1Venus Radar Map 1 Venus Radar Map 2Venus Radar Map 2 Venus Radar Map 3Venus Radar Map 3 Venus Radar Map 4Venus Radar Map 4 Venus Radar Map 5Venus Radar Map 5 Venus Topographical Map 1Venus Topographical Map 1 Venus Topographical Map 2Venus Topographical Map 2 Venus Topographical Map 3Venus Topographical Map 3 Venus Topographical Map 4Venus Topographical Map 4 Venus Venera 9Venus Venera 9 Venus Venera 10Venus Venera 10 Venus Venera 13Venus Venera 13 Venus Venera 13Venus Venera 13 Venus Venera 13 Camera 1Venus Venera 13 Camera 1 Venus Venera 13 Camera 2Venus Venera 13 Camera 2 Venus Venera 13 CompositeVenus Venera 13 Composite Venus Venera 14 Camera 1Venus Venera 14 Camera 1 Venus Venera 14 Camera 2Venus Venera 14 Camera 2 Venus Venera 14 CompositeVenus Venera 14 Composite  

Notes on Gallery

Surface of Venus - Venera 13 & 14 Composites - Don P. Mitchell using a composite imaging technique created the non distorted images of the surface of venus using pictures taken from Venera 13 & 14 missions.

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