Focus on Venus – By Elizabeth Rose PIN 7430

The Planet Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love, probably because it shines so much and stands out in the night sky.

It is the only Planet that is named after a female.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is the second brightest in the sky after the Moon.

It orbits the Sun every 224.7 Earth days compared to the Earth’s 365 days.

Venus has the longest rotation period of any planet in the Solar System and it rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets, too.

It does not have any natural satellites.

It is the second largest terrestrial planet and some people refer to it as the Earth’s sister planet as they have a similar size and mass.

It is 108.2million km from the Sun.

It has 460.2 million km surface area.

The thick clouds on Venus reflect most of the sunlight that reaches it back into space – that is why it is so bright. Because it is the brightest, it can be seen by the naked eye often a few hours after sunset or before sunrise.

Venus has a central iron core and rocky mantle, it is a similar composition to the Earth. However its atmosphere is 96 per cent carbon dioxide and 3 per cent nitrogen and other gases.

It was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago, when the solar system was a cloud of dusts and gases.

The inner core formed first like the Earth and then other elements formed a crust over the years.

The surface of Venus has is own unique geology and has large meteor craters, volcanoes, erosions and also some sedimentation land forms. However, these have been smoothed somewhat by lava flows and by the corrosive atmosphere.

In Astrology Venus rules Taurus which brings love, friendship and all the things that make life worthwhile.