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| SOL | MERCURY | VENUS | EARTH | METEORS | MOON | MARS | ASTEROIDS | JUPITER | SATURN | URANUS | NEPTUNE | PLUTO | COMETS |
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Translate this page into:
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| SOL | MERCURY | VENUS | EARTH | METEORS | MOON | MARS | ASTEROIDS | JUPITER | SATURN | URANUS | NEPTUNE | PLUTO | COMETS |
In the first great battle of the gods, Saturn killed Uranus, and castrated him, and threw the severed parts into the sea. The sea foamed, and from this foam arose the goddess Venus (to the Greeks she was Aphrodite, from aphros, meaning foam). Venus became the goddess of love, and beauty. She had numerous lovers, both mortal and divine, including Adonis, and Mars, the god of war. Below is The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1485. Click on image to enlarge.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and the closest planet to Earth, only 26 million miles away. It is also the most Earth-like planet in the solar system, being only slightly smaller, and slightly closer to the Sun, and the only other planet in the solar system (except for Saturn's frozen moon, Titan) to possess a thick atmosphere. These similarities between Venus and Earth led to much speculation over the years as to the possibility of Venus harbouring some form of life. But when spacecraft were finally sent to Venus to investigate, they found a planet about as inhospitable to life as possible.
It seems the same greenhouse effect that makes life possible on Earth, has made life impossible on Venus. The greenhouse effect is the result of certain greenhouse gases in a planet's atmosphere absorbing infrared radiation, and keeping the planet warm, like a blanket. Earth's atmosphere has just the right amount of greenhouse gases, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide and water vapour, to keep the planet just the right temperature for life to thrive. It is, however, a delicate balance, and Venus is an example of this balance being upset. Widespread volcanic activity saturated the atmosphere of Venus with greenhouse gases, and the planet began to heat up. The increased temperature caused even more greenhouse gases to be released, creating a positive feedback loop that resulted in Venus having a surface temperature of 482 ° C (900 ° F) - hot enough to melt lead. And the story gets worse. The atmosphere on Venus has become so thick and heavy, the atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of Earth. The pressure on the surface of Venus is as crushing as the pressure one kilometer beneath the surface of the sea, on Earth. Citizens of Earth should take note of what happens to a planet when its atmosphere is abused.
Like Mercury, Venus is between Earth and the Sun, so we see it go through phases, like the Moon, as the Sun hits it from different angles. But even though we only see part of Venus, it is still the brightest object in the night sky, except for the Moon, with an apparent magnitude of -4.4, because it is so close to us, and its cloud cover so highly reflective. Venus only appears in the morning, and the evening, but it does stray a little farther from the Sun than Mercury, hanging around in the morning sky for an hour or two before sunrise as the proverbial morning star, or setting an hour or two after the Sun, entertaining us as the famous evening star.
Venus rotates on its axis in the opposite (retrograde) direction of all the other planets in the solar system. On Venus the sun rises in the west, and sets in the east. But if you want to watch a sunset on Venus, you'd better pack a lunch, because the Sun moves very slowly across the Venusian sky, as the planet takes 243 Earth days to rotate once upon its axis. By that time, over a year has passed on Venus, as it takes only 225 Earth days to complete its orbit around the Sun.
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