Venus: the Hot, Hellish & Volcanic Planet

One of the most underrated, misunderstood, and uncared for planets in the solar system is Venus. Venus is a scorching hot terrestrial planet that is the second closest planet to the sun, located between Mercury and Earth. This planet is more fascinating than it seems it was even named after a goddess of beauty and love.

Venus is about 462 degrees celsius or about 863 degrees fahrenheit, unexpectedly making it the hottest planet in the solar system. Although Venus is not the closest planet from the sun its atmosphere traps heat making it much warmer. Venus’ atmosphere can even melt lead. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun but it doesn’t have an atmosphere to trap the heat like Venus’ does. Scientists believe that Venus’ atmosphere has a lot of carbon dioxide because it is over 90 times denser than Earth’s. On the actual surface of Venus under multiple layers of clouds, which is made up of sulphuric acid, it is covered with a smooth texture. Venus’ atmosphere is made up of mostly carbon dioxide covering 96%, while only 3% nitrogen, and zero to none oxygen. A long time ago while Venus was forming with accretion, rocks were slamming into this planet making is bigger and bigger. Scientists believe that the surface is a smooth texture because it is covered in lava and magma due to many volcanoes. Venus has the most volcanoes than any other planet in the solar system. These volcanoes used to be a lot more active then they are today.

The planet Venus has a lot of similarities with Earth. Venus is the closest planet from Earth, but it is still at its farthest 162 million miles away. Some people even call Earth and Venus the twin planets because they are so similar in size, mass, and density. Venus has a diameter of 12,104 km while Earth has a diameter of about 12,750 km. These numbers make these planets the two closest planets in size. There mass is also very similar, Earth's mass is 5.97 x 10^24 kg and Venus’ is 4.87 x 10^24 kg. As of density scientists believe the cores of Earth and Venus are relatively similar and made out of the same materials. Furthermore, “Venus and Mars are our next of kin: they are the two most Earth-like planets that we know about. They’re the only two other very Earth-like planets in our solar system, meaning they orbit close to the sun; they have rocky surfaces and thin atmospheres,” said scientist David Grinspoon. This quote states that Venus and Earth are similar and that maybe one day there could even be life on Venus/Mars. Although there are many similarities between the two planets not everything is the same about the planets, there are also many differences. For example Venus spins the opposite direction than Earth. Most planets don’t spin this way which makes Venus unique. Another thing is that if you were to stay on Venus for one year it would be 225 Earth days. Although Venus’ atmosphere traps heat like Earth’s atmosphere there are still very different. There is no oxygen which means that there is no ozone layer, which means that UVC rays can get right through the atmosphere, making life there hot and dangerous. There is slim to none chance that there is any life on Venus because of its temperature and atmosphere.

Let's talk about the way Venus is different from all the other planets. First of all Venus is one of the only planets without a moon. Mercury also doesn’t have a moon because these planets are too close to the sun. Venus has a lot of similarities with the inner terrestrial planets but not with the gas giants. Venus is much more dense than these planets, because it had a solid core while gas giants made a liquid one. For example Venus has a density of over 5 g/cm^2 while Saturn only has a density of less than .7 g/cm^2. Just to make it clear the gas giants all have a density less than 1 which means they can float in water. Theoretically if you had a giant pool and put all the planets in it, the gas giants would float and the terrestrial planets would sink. Furthermore, with all of the gas giants they are located much farther away from the sun in a colder environment. Another interesting fact is that Venus and the inner planets have zero or few moons while the gas giants have many. They have more moons because in the early years the gas giants grabbed more objects with its larger gravitational fields. Some of these objects that they grabbed due to gravity made up their many moons.

“From its scorching hot temperatures to its oddball rotation, there’s a lot to learn about the second planet from the sun,” said National Geographic. There is much more information on Venus and hopefully after reading this, this planet is definitely not misunderstood or uncared for, because without it our solar system would be a lot different.

Works Cited

1. Venus Compared with the Earth, www.ajax.ehu.es/VEX/Venus.Earth/Venus.Earth.html.
2. Cain, Fraser. “What Type of Planet Is Venus?” Universe Today, 24 Dec. 2015, www.universetoday.com/66471/what-type-of-planet-is-venus/.
3. Esa. “Frequently Asked Questions.” European Space Agency, www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Frequently_asked_questions.
4. Redd, Nola Taylor. “What Is Venus Made Of?” Space.com, Space Created with Sketch. Space, 17 Nov. 2012, www.space.com/18525-venus-composition.html.
5. “Understanding Why Our Most Earth-like Neighbor, Venus, Is so Different.” The Planetary Society Blog, www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/van-kane/20150302-understanding-venus.html.
6. “Venus Facts: Interesting Facts about Planet Venus • The Planets.” The Planets, theplanets.org/venus/.
7. Wei-Haas, Maya. “Planet Venus, Explained.” Venus Information and Facts | National Geographic, 18 Oct. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/venus/.

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