Venus means:
In astronomy mythology, Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty.In Greek her name was Aphrodite.

---

---

How much would you weigh on Venus?
Because Venus and the Earth are almost the exact same size, you would weigh almost exactly the same on either planet. If you weighed 70 pounds on Earth you would weigh 63 pounds on Venus.

The Planet:
The planet Venus has long been one of the most misunderstood of all the inner planets. Like the Earth, Venus has an atmosphere. However, this atmosphere is far thicker than that of the Earth, making it difficult for modern science to penetrate.

Because we cannot see the surface of the planet Venus visually, there is much we still do not know about how this planet looks, and what it is like. However, using special instruments and probes scientists have in recent years unlocked many of the secrets long hidden by this mysterious world.

The Earth Has A Sister
Venus is in many ways Earth's sister planet. It is almost identical in size, and chemistry as the Earth. In other words Venus is made up of almost the exact same types of materials as the Earth, in about the same amounts.

However if they are twins, then Venus is the evil twin, she is the Earth gone wrong, very wrong. Venus is a deadly world, where the surface temperature is hot enough to cook a meal in mere minutes. There is no where to hide from this ever present furnace.

Global Warming
In the early days of Venus' 4 billion year long life, it would have appeared very similar to the Earth. The two would have been almost identical. However over a period of a few million years forces on Venus caused it to take a very different course than the Earth.

Venus lies much closer to the Sun than does our planet. That single fact has caused an unstoppable chain of events that doomed Venus to its fiery existence. Owing to its closer proximity to the Sun, Venus' temperature should have been only slightly warmer than that of the Earth.

As the planet warmed, water which formed oceans, lakes, and rivers on the Earth, evaporated. This increase in water vapor began a cycle of global warming that could not be stopped. Water vapor is a very effective greenhouse gas. The increase in water vapor caused the temperature to rise further, which caused more water to evaporate, causing the temperature to climb still further.

Today it is likely that all of Venus' water has evaporated, into the atmosphere. This atmosphere effectively traps the Sun's energy causing the surface to burn much hotter than it naturally would.

Venus Is Dry
The Earth has a protective layer known as the Ozone Layer. This important shield protects the Earth from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. Venus does not have an ozone layer. As a result the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun finds its way directly into Venus' atmosphere. Over many billions of years this radiation has slowly broken down water molocules into hydrogen and oxygen. As a result there is today very little water left on Venus.

How Does Venus Cool?
Like the planet Earth, Venus also has a liquid molten core. As the planet ages, this core slowly cools. On Earth this cooling takes the form of volcanic and tectonic activity. On the Earth, there are always hot spots somewhere, where heat can escape allowing the core to become more cool.

Venus does not cool itself in the same way. Instead many scientists believe that every so often much of the surface of Venus actually melts, letting of great amounts of heat as it cools. It is not clear why to similar planets would cool is such different ways, however it is believed that the oceans on Earth play a key role in helping promote volcanic and tectonic cooling.

From West To East
If you somehow found a way to survive the scorching heat found on the surface of Venus, you would quickly notice something strange about the days. Aside from the fact that Venus rotates very slowly, so that a day on Venus actually lasts longer than a year, Venus also rotates in the opposite direction as almost all the other planets.

Instead of the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west, the Sun on Venus would appear to rise in the West, and set in the East.

Moons:
Venus has no moons.