Venus

Sin’Kira Khan Reina Medina Period 2

Sister planet

• Astronomers refer to Venus as Earth's sister planet • Both are similar in size, mass, density and volume • formed about the same time and condensed out of the same nebula • YET….

continued

• Venus is very different from the Earth • has no oceans • surrounded by a heavy atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide with virtually no water vapor • clouds are composed of sulfuric acid droplets • At the surface, the atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of the Earth's at sea-level

Temperature

• Venus is scorched with a surface temperature of about 482 ° C (900 ° • It is the hottest planet in our solar system F) • high temperature is primarily due to a runaway greenhouse effect caused by the heavy atmosphere of carbon dioxide

Continued

• Sunlight passes through the atmosphere to heat the surface of the planet • Heat is radiated out, but is trapped by the dense atmosphere and not allowed to escape into space • Scientists believe Venus was largely formed by volcanic processes

Orbit cycle

• A Venusian day is 243 Earth days and is longer than its year of 225 day • rotates from east to west • To an observer on Venus , the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east • Because Venus is only slightly tilted on its axis, it has no seasonal variat ion

From earth….

• inferior planet, it shows phases when viewed with a telescope from the perspective of Earth.

• Brightest planet from earth • Galileo's observation of this phenomenon was important evidence in favor of Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the solar system

Atmosphere

• There are strong (350 kph) winds at the cloud tops but winds at the surface are very slow, no more than a few kilometers per hour.

• Clouds are so dense than you can never see the earth or the sun from the planets surface • There are no craters on the surface smaller than 1.25 miles Video

continued

• Atmosphere is so dense the smaller asteroids are crushed before reaching the surface • No detectable magnetic field • No orbiting moons around

Works Cited

• • • • • "Venus L Venus Facts, Pictures and Information." The Nine Planets Solar System Tour. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

"Venus Introduction." Views of the Solar System. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

"Planet Venus." Space Projects - Space Information - Space Shop. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

"Planet Venus - Overview and Pictures." The Solar Space Station - Facts, Information and Pictures about the Solar System, Planets Asteroids Meteors Comets Etc. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

"YouTube - Planet Venus: The Deadliest Planet, Venus Surface & Atmosphere [Naitional Geographic Channel, HD]." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .