Venus is the second planet from the sun and the closest planet to Earth. The planet may host life in its clouds.

It is the sixth largest planet in the solar system and is sometimes referred to as Earth's twin. They are not the same and are vastly different in almost every other aspect.

There are 20 fascinating facts about Venus.

In pictures, the Soviet Union's Venus missions.

Lee Cavendish

1. Venus has a rich history

A mural decorating a wall features Venus on a half shell with Cupid and a nereid on a dolphin.

Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty.   (Image credit: oversnap via Getty Images)
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The Babylonians studied Venus in the 16th century. The planets and stars were tracked. The oldest document on record is a Babylonian diary of Venus's appearances. Venus was a significant part of the mythology of ancient civilization. Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Artist's illustration of the surface of Venus. A yellow-hued image has a barren surface with small rocks in the foreground and a thick hazy atmosphere above.

Venus experiences extreme pressures on the surface. (Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)
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The extreme pressures on the surface of Venus would make walking around it unbearable. The air pressure on Earth is over 90 times the pressure in the ocean.

It's just like Earth (well sort of)

Artist' illustration showing a single planet made up of Venus on the left and Earth o the right with a white line dividing the two.

An artist's concept showing a super-Venus on the left and Earth on the right. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames)
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It is remarkably similar to Earth when it comes to the physical parameters. Both of them are almost the same in size and density, their compositions are similar, and they both have relatively young surfaces that are surrounded by clouds. Venus' clouds are mostly made of sulphuric acid, which isn't something that you would want to see on you.

4. It has many phases

Artist's illustration showing a half-illuminated planet Venus.

Venus in crescent phase. (Image credit: Starry Night software)
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The moon and Venus experience different phases. Venus changes between a morning star and an evening star roughly every nine and a half months. Everyone usually associates the moon with different percentages of illumination during this time.

5. Transits are very rare

A sequence of black circles cross the face of the sun.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this sequence of the 2012 transit of Venus from space. (Image credit: NASA)
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Venus is a planet that is in the path of the sun. The two planets can be seen between Earth and the sun, sometimes creating a silhouette that moves across the sun over hours. Venus is known to transit in pairs, making it a very rare event.

6. It's hellishly hot

Artist's illustration of the surface of Venus shows a hot barren landscape with a volcano structure in the background and a lightning strike reaching down from the thick hazy atmosphere.

 Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.   (Image credit: Estt via Getty Images)
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Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with a temperature of over 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Venus has a thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere that makes it possible for the heat to be efficiently retained.

7. Venusian volcanicity

Orange hued image shows a peak (Idunn Mons volcano) rising up from the surface of Venus.

This elevation model shows Idunn Mons, a volcano on Venus. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA)
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It has the most active volcanoes on the surface of all planets in the solar system. The largest volcano in the solar system is on Mars and it's one of the 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth. Venus has over 1,600 known major volcanoes, not including the smaller ones or any that have not been detected yet.

8. No companion

Orange brown planet Venus against the black backdrop of space.

Venus, as seen here by the Magellan spacecraft and the Pioneer Venus Orbiter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)
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Venus and Mercury do not have a moon of their own. It's understandable that Mercury doesn't have a moon because its close proximity to the sun has a negative effect on any contender. Researchers argue that the reason Venus doesn't have a moon isn't as simple as it might seem.

The first theory is that Venus was taken by the sun's gravity. The 'double- impact theory' states that a large body hit Venus billions of years ago and created a moon in the same way that Earth got its moon. After millions of years, a bigger object hit Venus, causing the retrograde rotation and causing the moon to sink into Venus, never to be seen again.

9. Life in the clouds?

Swirling clouds shroud planet Venus.

A false-colour image of cloud features seen on Venus by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on the European Space Agency's Venus Express probe captured on 8 December 2011. (Image credit: ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA)
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Researchers have proposed that life can't be found on the surface of Venus. According to a study done by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center, there could be life in the clouds.

Microbial life has been found at altitudes of 25 miles (40 km), and these researchers have said that there could be favorable conditions for life on Venus at altitudes of 30 to 32 miles (48 to 51 km). The temperatures would be around 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) and the pressures would be similar to Earth.

10. A day feels like a year

Orange sphere (the sun) is at the center of the image and the solar system planets orbit around it.

Artist's illustration of planets orbiting the sun.  (Image credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library via Getty Images)
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That is how it is on Venus. The longest day of any other planet in the solar system is one Venusian day, which is one complete rotation on its axis. The time it takes to complete one revolution around the sun is shorter on Venus.

11. 'Backwards' rotation

Artist's illustration of Earth, the moon and Venus orbiting the sun.

 Venus rotates in a retrograde motion.  (Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images.)
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Venus is different from most of the planets because of its rotation. Venus flaunts a clockwise rotation that is atypical for planets. There is a theory thatVenus andUranus were hit by large objects early in their histories. The planet saw stars and was spinning in the wrong direction.

12. What the future holds

Artist's illustration of Venus' atmosphere with large airships floating above the thick clouds.

In the future, scientists may explore Venus with airships.   (Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)
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Every planet in the solar system needs to be understood by researchers. Venus is difficult to observe remotely from the surface but with new technologies and a better understanding comes innovative exploration ideas. There is a common theme of exploring Venus from within the clouds.

As Venus has more favorable conditions in the clouds, with wind speeds that allow an object to travel around the planet much quicker than it rotates, scientists are looking to introduce aircraft or airships. Robotic missions could become a feature of Venus in the future by using solar and wind power.

13. Turning back the clock

Artist's illustration of Venus and the sun.

Venus could have harbored liquid water about 2 or 3 billion years ago.   (Image credit: themotioncloud via Getty Images)
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Once upon a time, Venus could have supported life. The climate of Venus changed 700 million years ago, causing it to bulk up its atmosphere. It is thought that Venus could have harbored liquid water for about 2 or 3 billion years. It is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556

14. Loss of a magnetic feeling

Artist's illustration showing the internal structure of Venus. The layers of the planet are peeled back to reveal the internal structure of the hot, hellish planet.

Artist's illustration showing the internal structure of Venus. The layers of the planet are peeled back to reveal the internal structure of the hot, hellish planet.  (Image credit: AlexLMX via Getty Images)
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The difference between the two planets is that Venus creates a negligible magnetic field. The iron core of Venus is similar to Earth's, according to planetary scientists. Due to the slow rotation of Venus, this weakens the planet's magnetic field.

15. It has had many spacecraft visitors

Artist's illustration showing a Venera spacecraft on the surface of Venus.

Launched between 1961 and 1983, the Venera (or "Venus" in Russian") missions were focused on studying the second planet from our sun. (Image credit: NASA)
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Space agencies wanted to send robotic missions to Venus before they focused on the exploration of Mars. The beginning of interplanetary exploration began with a lot of failures, starting with the Soviet Union's Sputnik.

There have been more than 40 missions launched to explore the planet since the first craft to aim for Venus failed. The first of these to conduct a successful planetary encounter was NASA's Mariner 2 space probe in December 1962.

16. Case of the missing lightning

An image of lightning striking towards the ground during a thunderstorm at sunset.

Researchers believe lightning could be present on Venus but it is more localized and rare than lightning on Earth.   (Image credit: Zenobillis via Getty Images)
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The missions that have gone to Venus to find the electrical pulse have made it even more difficult. Some subtle hints about the presence of Venusian lightning have been given by ground-based telescopes and space probes. There is no definitive evidence yet, but researchers think it could still be there. It's possible that there isn't lightning at all.

17. Soviet success at Venus

Artist's illustration of Venera 7.

Venera 7 was the first mission that saw a spacecraft land on a different planet. (Image credit: Roscosmos)
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18. Shining bright

A bright point of light — Venus — appears in the dark sky above a large rock structure surrounded by water.

Venus shines brightly over the Mitsuke Iwa Rock in Ishikawa Pref., Japan.  (Image credit: Yuga Kurita via Getty Images )
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Venus is the third-brightest object in the night sky because it is so close to Earth. Lucifer is the latin nickname for Venus, which is mostly unused in modern days. Considering the conditions on the surface of Venus, it's quite a coincidence that the Devil is named after it.

19. A source of shadows

Artist's illustration showing Venus with the sun rising behind.

Venus is so bright it can cast shadows on Earth.    (Image credit: Freelanceimages via Getty Images)
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Venus is the third-brightest object in the night sky and it casts shadows on Earth. The sun and moon are the only other stars capable of this. Good eyesight is required to see these shadows.

20. Weird winds

Grainy image of Venus showing thick white clouds streaking across the planet.

Venus is blanketed by a thick veil of clouds. This image of Venus was captured by NASA's Mariner 10 on Feb. 5, 1974.   (Image credit: NASA)
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Super rotation is when the clouds move across the atmosphere once every four Earth days. The speeds of the most dangerous hurricanes on Earth are less than 200 miles per hour. The clouds create winds that are a few miles per hour on the surface.