VENUS-EARTH'S TWIN?
Welcome to Venus. Venus, a beautiful white planet, was named after the Roman goddess of beauty. The planet probably got its name because of the brightness of the planet. (With only a few exceptions, the surface features on Venus are named after female figures.) Because of its similarity of size and mass to Earth, it has often been called Earth's twin. Both planets have few craters. This fact indicates relatively young surfaces. Their densities and chemical substance are also similar. Because of these similarities, early astronomers thought that beneath the dense Venusian clouds, there would be life forms similar to those on Earth. However, more detailed studies have shown that in many ways Venus is extremely unlike Earth.

For example, Venus's pressure at the surface is 90 atmospheres (which is the same pressure at a depth of 1 km in Earth's oceans).

The atmosphere is composed mainly of carbon dioxide. There are also layers of thick clouds of sulfuric acid. The dense atmosphere produces a run-away green house effect. The greenhouse effect is where heat from the sun is trapped by gasses such as carbon dioxide, which is plentiful on the moon. This heat makes the planet very warm and allows little heat out, much like a greenhouse.

Temperatures on Venus are extremely high. Surface temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius. This is hot enough to melt even lead and aluminum. Venus probably once had large amounts of water like Earth, but it all boiled away.

It revolves around the sun every 225 Earth days in a very circular orbit. Meanwhile it rotates on its axis every 242.6 Earth days with very little tilt on its axis. This makes a Vesuvian day longer than a Venusian year!!!

Venus is completely covered with clouds. It reflects approximately 59% of the light it receives from the sun. Compare this to our moon which reflects just 7% of the light it receives. This makes Venus the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon. (The moon appears brighter because it is closer to us.)

On Venus's surface are gently rolling plains, and there are several broad depressions. There are also two highland areas--Aphrodite Terra located along the equator (about the size of South America) and Ishtar Terra in the northern hemisphere (about the size of Australia). Ishtar Terra contains the highest mountain on Venus.

There are severe winds and storms that occur as air circulates around the planet. One enormous, long-lasting storm, was observed by Mariner 10 in 1974. This storm was similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot and was called the Venusian "Eye". It was about the size of the United States.

Check out more about Venus on the Internet!!!
Click here for cool pictures.
Learn about the Magellen project.
Here's a link to NASA's page on Venus.