Venus factfile

15th May 2017

 

  • Venus is named after the Roman goddess of Love – Venus.

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  • Venus is almost the same size as Earth. It has a diameter of 12,104 km.

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  • It is thought that Venus is made up of a central iron core, a rocky mantle and a silicate crust.

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  • A year on Venus is 225 Earth days.

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  • Venus’s surface temperature to 471°C – making it the hottest planet in our solar system.

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  • Venus rotates in the opposite direction to most planets – this may be because of a collision at some point in history.

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  • Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky, only the moon is brighter than Venus.          The planet is so bright that on a clear day it can be seen during the daytime.

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  • The atmospheric pressure on Venus is 92 times greater than on Earth.

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  • The Russians sent the first space probe to study Venus in 1961 – it was called the Venera 1.

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  • The Venus fly trap plant gets its name from the planet as the atmosphere of Venus sometimes swallows smaller planets.

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