Venus

Venus is our nearest planetary neighbour, and was the first planet to be explored. It was named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty due to its brightness. Venus is similar to Earth in terms of size, mass and density, but that is where the similarities end. Venus' atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide, and it acts similarly to a greenhouse, allowing solar radiation to reach the surface, but trapping most of the heat in. The effect of this is an average surface temperature of 482°C. Besides of this high temperature, Venus also has winds that reach up to 350km/h, and an atmospheric pressure 90 times that of Earth, which is equivalent to the pressure at the depth of 1km in our oceans.

Venus, like most terrestrial planets is basically broken up into two geographical categories - highland and lowland. Both areas contain a relatively high level of volcanic activity, having around 156 volcanoes larger than 100km in diameter, and around 580 smaller ones. Scientists believe that many of these volcanoes are still active, and this suggests that Venus' surface is made up largely of igneous rock.

Copyright owned by the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development). Used with Permission.