Topic > Venus: A Window into the Inner Workings of Our Solar System

Venus' atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. The thick atmosphere traps the sun's heat, resulting in surface temperatures above 880 degrees F% (470 degrees C%). The atmosphere has many layers with different temperatures. At cloud level, about 30 miles above the surface, the temperature is about the same as on the surface of the Earth. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned”?Download an Original EssayAs Venus moves forward in its solar orbit while slowly rotating backwards on its axis, the upper layer of clouds whizzes around the planet every four Earth days, driven by hurricane-force winds traveling at about 224 miles (360 kl) per hour. Atmospheric lightning illuminates these fast-moving clouds. Velocities within clouds decrease with cloud height and at the surface are estimated to be only a few miles per hour. On Earth it would appear to be a very foggy and cloudy day on Earth. And the atmosphere is so heavy it feels like you're 1 mile (1.6km) underwater. With a radius of 3,760 miles (6,052 kl), Venus is about the same size as Earth, just slightly smaller. So it is called the sister of the Earth. From an average distance of 67 million miles (108 million kl), Venus is 0.7 astronomical units away from the sun. An astronomical unit (abbreviated to AU) is the distance between the Sun and the Earth. From this distance, sunlight takes 6 minutes to travel from the sun to Venus. Its highest mountain is Maxwell Montes, it is 20,000 feet (8.8 kl) high. If you didn't know that Venus spins in the exact opposite direction of the earth. No humans have visited Venus, but spacecraft sent to the surface of Venus do not last long there. Venus's high surface temperature overheats the spacecraft's electronics in a short time, so it seems unlikely that a person could survive on the Venusian surface for long. Venus up close rocks are different shades of gray, like rocks on Earth, but the thick atmosphere filters out sunlight so everything would look orange if you were on Venus. Venus is thought to have been completely resurfaced by volcanic activity between 300 and 500 million years ago. Venus has two large mountainous areas: Ishtar Terra, about the size of Australia, in the north polar region; and Aphrodite Earth, the size of South America, straddling the equator and stretching nearly 6,000 miles (10,000). Venus from distant space, Venus is bright white because it is covered in clouds that reflect and scatter sunlight. On the surface it looks like a chime. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, Venus is the best planet Because Venus' atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. And Venus is about the same size as Earth, just slightly smaller! Furthermore, no human has visited Venus, but the spacecraft has! Works Cited Esposito, L.W. (1984). Venus: movement and atmospheric circulation. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 12(1), 413-450.Grinspoon, D.H. (1997). Venus revealed: a new look beneath the clouds of our mysterious sister planet. Addison Wesley. Limaye, S.S., & Suomi, V.E. (2008). Venus: atmosphere. In Encyclopedia of the Solar System (2nd ed., pp. 459-474). Elsevier.Markiewicz, W.J., Petrova, E.V., & Shalygin, E.V. (2018). Geology of Venus: new data from Venus Express. In Comparative climatology of the terrestrial planets..