Venus

Venus is the second planet from Sun in the Solar System. It is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, with a surface temperature of 465°C. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is also the second brightest object after The Moon, reaching a magnitude of -4.6. Venus is sometimes called Earth's "twin planet" because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun, and composition. However, Venus has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets as well as Venus is also believed to had oceans in the past, but the water evaporated due to increasing luminosity of the Sun. It has a average distance of 108,208,000 kilometres, and a surface temperature of 465°C.

Orbit
Venus revolves around the Sun on an inner orbit as seen from the perspective of the Earth. One solar orbit takes 224.7 Earth days. During this orbit, it is between the Earth and the Sun. The Venus rotation is retrograde, and it rotates backwards, which means one Venus day lasts longer than one Venus year (225 earth days). However, Venus rotates the Sun faster than it rotates about its axis. One Venus day is equivalent to 242 Earth days and has a very small axial tilt (2.7 degrees) towards its orbital plane. The axial tilt of Earth is greater (23.5 degrees). This makes Venus the second planet from the Sun, with a average distance of 108,208,000 kilometres.

Size, mass and structure
The mass of Venus is 4.868 x 10^24 kg, or 81.5% of Earth's. It's mean density is 5250 kilograms per cubic metre, it is similar to Earth's despite its internal structure. It's diameter of Venus is 12,103 kilometres, because Venus is slightly smaller than Earth. This makes Venus the second largest terrestrial planet in the Solar System. Venus is in many ways similar to Earth in its structure. It has an liquid iron core that is approximately 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) in radius. Above that is a rocky mantle, slowly churning due to the planet's interior heat. The surface is a thin outer crust of rock that bulges and moves as Venus' mantle shifts and creates volcanoes.

Surface
The surface of Venus consists of hot deserts, large plains, mountains and valleys. The largest plateau is Aphrodite Terra, which is located at the level of the Venus equator and is about as large as Africa. However, Venus is less mountainous than Earth. There are some elevations that reach 11 kilometres in height (Maxwell Montes), but only 10% of the entire surface is mountainous. Much of the surface is taken up by large plains (70%) and lowlands (20%). Venus had a distinct pattern of volcanic eruptions, possibly there are still active volcanoes on the planet. Certainly, astronomers have discovered cooled off lava streams that are longer than the longest rivers on the Earth. There are also craters on the surface of Venus, although far less than on Mercury. Larger chunks of rock, however, have reached the surface, leaving impact craters in their wake.

Atmosphere
The planet Venus is surronded by a closed cloud layers. Sometimes, it even rains in a inhospitable environment, incompatible with life. However, the rain consists of sulphuric acid, as it never reaches the surface, evaporates the enormous heat. Despite these inhospitable conditions, space probes succeeded in landing the surface and explored the dusty surface. While the Sun can warm the surface, the dense atmosphere of Venus with its layers of haze prevents heat from being released. The atmospheric pressure is 100 times stronger than Earth (also known as Air pressure).

Venus ' atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide and sulfur. The thick atmosphere traps the Sun's heat, resulting in surface temperatures of 735 degrees Kelvin (470 degrees Celsius), as the atmosphere has many layers with different temperatures.

Observing Phases
Venus is one of the inner planets, as the orbit passes between the Sun and Earth's orbit, despite different observable phases. During the phases of the waxing or waning Venus crescent, the planet can be observed particularly well. At the time of inferior or superior conjunction, the planet is invisible to the Earth. Conjuction refers that various celestial bodies are located along the same longitude. During the inferior conjuction (sequence Earth-Venus-Sun), Venus is at its closest to Earth. Since Venus' night side is turned towards the Earth, it is invisible to the Earth, as Venus will enter the waxing crescent phase, reaching its point of greatest distance. The greater elongation from Venus can observe the planet, because the greatest elongation is merely 48 degrees, while Mercury's elongation is 28 degrees. As a result of this difference, Venus can be seen for a longer period of time after sunset and earlier before sunrise than Mercury.