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Planet Venus
Venus is the closest planet to Earth and has almost the same size. It could be our perfect sister planet if only the greenhouse effect hadn't turned Venus into a baking oven. The average temperature on its surface is 464 °C (or 863 °F), caused by an extremely dense atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide (CO2). The surface pressure on Venus is 93 bar, 93 times that of the earth. All in all these are conditions under which cou could cook a 16 inch pepperoni pizza in just 9 seconds. It is believed that around 4 billion years ago the atmosphere of Venus closely resembled that of Earth, with liquid water on the surface. But a runaway greenhouse effect seems to have taken control. And periodically something even more frightening happens on Venus! Check our image of Venus unveiled to get an understanding of these cataclysmic events!

However, there is a region on Venus that is very much like earth and where human beings could live. It's the higher parts of the atmosphere, at about 55 km in altitude. Here temperatures are moderate as well as the air pressure. But colonisation of Venus with floating cities is mainly the subject of science fiction for now.

Name Venus
Mean radius 6051.8 km
(0.95 Earths)
Surface area 0.902 Earths
Volume 0.866 Earths
Mass 0.815 Earths
Mean density 5.243 g/cm3
Equatorial surface gravity 8.87 m/s2 (0.904 g)
Mean surface temperature 737 K
(462 °C or 864 °F)
Oribital period 224.7 days
Rotation period 243.02 days
Axial tilt 177.36 °C
Aphelion 0.728 AU
Perihelion 0.718 AU
Mean distance from the Sun 0.723 AU
Venus unveiled Venus unveiled
Venus transit Venus transit

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Published by Published or last modified on 2024-02-24