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In ancient times
people looked up at the sky and they saw seven heavenly bodies that didn't
look like stars. the biggest and brightest were the Sun and the Moon. The
other five bodies were the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn.
Of the five,
Venus was the brightest by far. In fact Venus can be seen in the daytime,
if you know where to look.
The ancient
people thought that the planets were gods and goddesses. The Babylonians
called Venus, Ishtar. The Chinese called Venus, Tai-pe. The Egyptians
called it Bonou. the called Venus, Venus after their god of love and
beauty.
The Italian
astronomer Galileo discovered that Venus goes through phases like the
Moon. Sometimes its thin crescent. Other times it's fully.
Thick clouds surround
Venus and block us fro viewing its surface. The average temperature on
Venus is 850ºF.
Venus is commonly
called Earths twin, but in fact there are many differences. The biggest
and most obvious is the length of its day. It's day is longer than its
year. The temperature is another big difference. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 120ºF and on Venus the average temperature is
850ºF.
Venus has been studied
for hundreds of years, but there is still much to learn.
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Quick
Facts
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| Length
of year: |
225
Earth days |
| Length
of day: |
243
Earth days |
| Diameter: |
7,520miles |
| Moons: |
0 |
| Distance
from Sun: |
67million
1/4 miles |
| Average
speed while orbiting the Sun: |
about
22miles perscond |
| Temperature: |
850° |
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