Solar System

Venus

Terrestrial planet · The veiled furnace world · Known since antiquity

Similar to Earth in size, Venus is wrapped in a thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere that traps heat, making it the hottest planet in the Solar System.

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Texture: Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0)

Key facts

Distance from Sun 0.72AU 108.2 million km
Radius 6,052km 0.95× Earth
Mean temperature 464°C ~464 °C, nearly uniform

Time & motion

A day (one spin) 243 Earth days (retrograde) Venus spins backwards, and slowest of all planets.
A year (one orbit) 224.7 Earth days Its year is shorter than its day.
Surface gravity vs Earth
8.87 m/s² 0.90 g
0Earth = 1 g2.5×

Mass & physical characteristics

Mass 4.87 × 10²⁴kg 0.815× Earth
Density 5.24g/cm³ Water = 1.0 g/cm³
Escape velocity 10.4km/s Speed to break free
Orbital velocity 35.0km/s Speed around the Sun
Axial tilt 177.4° Tipped almost upside-down; it rotates retrograde.

Atmosphere & magnetosphere

Atmosphere

96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, with clouds of sulphuric acid. A crushing, runaway greenhouse — like being 900 m under the ocean.

Surface pressure ≈ 92× Earth Relative to Earth's 1 bar

Magnetic field

No global magnetic field.

Moons & rings

Known moons 0 No known moons.

Make-up

Composition

Thick CO₂ atmosphere with sulphuric-acid clouds; a runaway greenhouse.

Notable features

  • Maxwell Montes — its highest mountains, about 11 km tall.
  • Volcanoes and lava plains have resurfaced almost the entire planet.

Fun facts

  • A day on Venus (one spin) is longer than a Venusian year (one orbit around the Sun).
  • Venus spins backwards — from its surface the Sun would rise in the west.
  • Its surface pressure is about 92 times Earth's, enough to crush an unprotected craft.
  • A runaway greenhouse keeps the surface near 465 °C — hotter than Mercury's.
  • Bright sulphuric-acid clouds make Venus the most brilliant planet in our sky.

Exploration

Pioneer Venus 1978–92 First US orbiter; early radar mapping.
Magellan 1990–94 Radar-mapped 98% of the surface.
Akatsuki 2015– JAXA orbiter studying the atmosphere and clouds.