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Rocky
planet
Dun-colored (Clouds)
Diameter:
7600 miles
Rotation:
243 Days
Orbit:
225 Days
Temperature Average: 464 C
Moons:
None
Number
from sun :2
Distance
from the sun: 67 Million miles
Atmosphere: Dense, inhospitable
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun. It looks beautiful from Earth, but it has clouds of
poisonous gases. This makes Venus look very bright. Venus is called the white
planet, and it is the brightest of the planets. It is a hot planet and has lots
of volcanoes. You can even see Venus in the daytime if you look at the right
spot in the sky. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love.
Venus is almost the same
size as Earth. It is the closest planet to Earth. Venus gets much hotter,
though. It can be as high as 900 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to melt
metal!
One year on Venus lasts
225 Earth days. An astronomer named Galileo learned that Venus has phases like
our moon has. Sometimes it looks full. Other times it looks like a crescent
(like the tip of a fingernail). Venus is very bright, and you can see it without
a telescope. People who see Venus in the morning often call it the morning star.
People who see it at night call it the evening star.
Venus
has a lot of thick clouds around it. That makes it hard to see the surface.
Venus is a lot like Earth because it is almost the same size and the years are
almost the same length. Venus is also the closes planet to the Earth. Venus is
sometimes called Earth’s twin. Scientists think that Venus might once have had
life like Earth has. Venus has plains, canyons, and
valleys. It has big mountains. Its largest mountain is Maxwell Montes. This
mountain is six miles tall.
There
is one big difference in Earth and Venus. Venus takes 243 Earth-days to spin
once. That means one day on Venus is equal to 243 Earth days. Once we sent
probes to Venus, we found other differences. Venus does not have oxygen. Its
clouds are made of poisonous gas. It is also very hot. There is no water on
Venus. Instead of raining water, it rains sulfuric acid. This acid would burn a
human’s skin. No one is sure what caused Venus to be different from Earth in
these ways.Think
about it: What are the differences between Earth and Venus? What
things are the same? See if you can make a list of things that are
the same and things that are different.
To learn more about
Venus, visit this site:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/venus/
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