Venus is the second planet from the sun. Even though the planet Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus is hotter due to its strong greenhouse effect. In fact, the surface temperature on Venus is at least 425° Celsius, which is hot enough to melt lead. The surface pressure is that of one Kilometer beneath the ocean and the atmosphere is 90 – 95 percent carbon dioxide. The winds blow at just one Kilometer per hour on the surface, but above the clouds the winds blow at approximately 300 Kilometers per hour.

Venus was named after the Greek goddess of love and is considered the sister of the planet Earth because of its close size. It has 95% of the diameter and 80% of the mass of the planet Earth. The interior of Venus is probably similar to Earth with a 3000 Kilometer inner core and a rocky mantle surrounding it. Venus has no moon and is, therefore, considered to be an inferior planet. Galileo’s observations of Venus and its phases lead him to his heliocentric or sun centered view of the solar system which replaced the geo-centric or Earth centered view of the solar system.

Although there are some similarities, there are many more differences to the planet Earth. Venus has no magnetic field because of its slow rotation on its axis. It takes 243 Earth days for Venus to rotate once on its axis. Another difference is its terrain; it is covered with many volcanoes, volcanic plains and gigantic depressions.

Venus is thought to have been covered in water at one time, with the water having been boiled away leaving it with the current dry surface. Venus is the brightest object in the night sky except the moon. Most meteorites do not make it to the surface of Venus; they burn up in the atmosphere. Clearly, Venus is not similar to Earth and is the least inhabitable planet in our solar system.