Humans are naturally curious. It’s possibly one of the most defining characteristics of our species. Some believe that our drive to figure out new things and to explore new places is why we ended up evolving away from primates.
But once we started running out of things to be curious about here on Earth, we began to look outwards into the infinity of space. Our quest continues to find new things and to satisfy our passion for more information.
That’s how we ended up observing and “visiting” other planets far from home. One such place is Venus, a truly intriguing planet, which also happens to be not too far from Earth.
Read on to discover 25 Fascinating Planet Venus Facts that will enlighten you about our nearest celestial neighbor.
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It's really hot there
https://www.space.com/18526-venus-temperature.html Okay, we’ve already discussed the extreme temperatures on Venus.
Interestingly, although Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. Mercury is the second hottest.
To get an idea of how hot it is there, the temperature on Venus (462°C) is enough to melt lead!
Venus is "seasonless"
https://www.universetoday.com/36887/does-venus-have-seasons/ As you probably understand by now, Venus doesn’t have cool winters or rainy autumns like Earth.
For that matter, the surface of Venus experiences no temperature variations at all. Everywhere you go on the entire planet, the temperature basically feels like you’re in hell (in other words, it’s hot … really hot).
It rotates clockwise
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-is-the-only-planet-that-rotates-clockwise.html Nearly every planet in the solar system rotates counter-clockwise on its axis. That’s not the case for Venus though. Just like Uranus, Venus rotates clockwise.
This is known as a retrograde rotation and may have been caused by a collision with an asteroid or another object, which caused the planet to change its rotational path.
Furthermore, Venus’ orbit is the most circular compared to the rest of the planets in our solar system.
Venus has immense atmospheric pressure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Venus Venus’ atmospheric pressure is much stronger than Earth’s despite the fact that the two planets are nearly the same size and mass. Give or take, the pressure is about 92 times stronger than you would find on Earth.
This means that any small asteroids “invading” the atmosphere are quickly crushed by the enormous pressure. It also explains why there are no small surface craters on the planet.
A weak magnetic field
https://sci.esa.int/web/venus-express/-/50246-a-magnetic-surprise-for-venus-express Surprisingly, Venus has a very weak magnetic field, despite the field’s similarity in strength to Earth’s.
A logical explanation as to why this happens is that Venus has no solid inner core, or that its core is not cooling.
