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….

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• 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° F)

• It is the hottest planet in our solar system

• high temperature is primarily due to a runaway greenhouse effect caused by the heavy atmosphere of carbon dioxide

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• 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 variation

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

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• 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. <http://nineplanets.org/venus.html>.

• "Venus Introduction." Views of the Solar System. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/venus.htm>.

• "Planet Venus." Space Projects - Space Information - Space Shop. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://www.aerospaceguide.net/planet/planetvenus.html>.

• "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. <http://www.solarspace.co.uk/Venus/venus.php>.

• "YouTube - Planet Venus: The Deadliest Planet, Venus Surface & Atmosphere [Naitional Geographic Channel, HD]." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqFVxWfVtoo>.