What are Some Prominent Features of Venus?
Venus, called Earth’s “sister planet” for its similar size, has a surface nothing like ours. Venus’s atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide, with 3.5% nitrogen making up the rest. The surface temperature is 462°C (863°F), well above that of a typical oven broiler, and surface pressure is 90 atmospheres, about equivalent to the pressure underneath a kilometer of water on Earth. The cloud tops experience 300 km/h (186 mph) winds regularly. Its surface consists of red-hot basalt plains, and plenty of evidence of past and present volcanism, although no eruptions have been observed directly. To the naked eye, Venus appears milky white, its relatively high albedo, or reflectance, and proximity to Earth and the Sun making it the brightest object in the night sky except for the Moon. This has earned it the name “Morning Star,” or “Evening Star,” as it gets brightest near sunrise or sunset. Humanity has been familiar with Venus since prehistoric times and references to it can be found in our oldest
Venus, called Earth’s “sister planet” for its similar size, has a surface nothing like ours. Venus’s atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide, with 3.5% nitrogen making up the rest. The surface temperature is 462°C (863°F), well above that of a typical oven broiler, and surface pressure is 90 atmospheres, about equivalent to the pressure underneath a kilometer of water on Earth. The cloud tops experience 300 km/h (186 mph) winds regularly. Its surface consists of red-hot basalt plains, and plenty of evidence of past and present volcanism, although no eruptions have been observed directly. To the naked eye, Venus appears milky white, its relatively high albedo, or reflectance, and proximity to Earth and the Sun making it the brightest object in the night sky except for the Moon. This has earned it the name “Morning Star,” or “Evening Star,” as it gets brightest near sunrise or sunset. Humanity has been familiar with Venus since prehistoric times and references to it can be found in our olde
