Venus

Venus

Venus has been called the sister planet of Earth because it is nearly identical to Earth in size and mass, and also the planet with the closest orbit to Earth at 0.7AU from the Sun. The thick, cloudy atmosphere of Venus hides her surface from our telescopes. This has always fuelled speculation about life on Venus. Modern astronomical techniques have shown the surface of Venus to be hotter than that of Mercury, a steaming 350℃ - hotter than boiling water and in some places hot enough to melt lead! Venus' atmosphere is 100 times thicker than Earth's, made mostly of carbon dioxide (96%), nitrogen (3.5%), and various acids. The surface of Venus has been shown by radar studies to be covered with craters and as rough as the Moon. [TB] {SL}