The Solar System (Venus)

Picture of Venus with UV filter.
Credit: NASA/Mariner 10 probe

    Named after the Roman god of beauty, Venus, the second of the planets from the sun, boasts the hottest planet in the solar system. It's surface of how we see it today formed 4.5 billions years ago, and the planet has a radius of 3760 miles, with no moons, or rings. Data from radar mapping gives clues that water may have existed on the planet billions of years ago, in the planet's early history. Despite the fact that the planet is very hot, Venus is called the sister planet of Earth. Venus has almost the same size as Earth, has a lot of similar physical features, and has a atmosphere, but at the same time, very different compared to Earth, probably the most different is that the planet's rotation is opposite of Earth, and a day on Venus is 243 Earth days, where the sun goes West to East. However, Venus orbits the sun in an almost perfect circle, the most round of the orbits of the planets.

Venus at 0 degrees longitude EAST.
Credits: NASA/ Magellan Probe

     Venus reaches record temperatures because of the greenhouse acidic gases that trap heat and does not allow heat to escape the planet. Carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid makes mostly of the atmosphere. The planet gets so hot that lead will melt on the planet. The gases also rotate at hurricane speeds, despite the slow one day rotation of the planet, and lightning bursts occur throughout the atmosphere. The atmosphere also protect the planet from meteorite impacts, but larger meteor will smash into the planet. The air pressure is about a mile deep in the ocean if you were on Earth with Venus' atmosphere, and the weather would be all hazy and cloudy all your life on the planet.

Computer generated picture of
several volcanoes on the planet.
Credits: NASA/ Magellan Probe

     Although Venus seems like an alien planet, its surface does relate to Earth's. There are mountains and plains, along with valleys, and volcanoes. Everything there would look orange, because the clouds filters and only allows orange light to enter the surface below the atmosphere. Venus also have a small magnetic field, due to its slow rotation. It axis is only 3 degrees, so everyday, all year, no dramatic changes of seasons would ever happen (well, unless you tilt its axis more). From sharp topography, scientists infer that life could have existed during the early stages of Venus, if the planet has a thinner atmosphere, less greenhouse gases, then water would be able to exist on the planet, thus life will exist as well.

Venus using UV light captured from Earth.
Credits: NASA/ Hubble Telescope

     In the night sky, it is only possible to see Venus before sunrise, and right after sunset, due to the fact that it is before the Earth to the sun, thus it appears that the planet is always near the sun. However, it's the closest planet to Earth thus making it the brightest object in the night sky, besides the moon. Like Mercury, Venus also transits around the sun, and except that its transits seen from Earth, is not as common as Mercury's due to the Earth and Venus's orbit, meaning when Venus transits across the sun, it's not in the perspective of Earth's.

Venus from the ISS, the brightest 'star'.
Credits: Kimiya Yui, JAXA

      Many probes have passed Venus, either to map the planet, or use it as a trajectory to throw it closer to the sun. The first probe to do this was Mariner 2, which passed the planet at quite distance. Venera 7, sent by the Soviet Union, was the first of its type to land on another planet, and Venera 9, returned the first images of the planet's surface. Magellan, the first Venus orbiter, mapped 88% of the planet's surface using radar-mapping, giving scientists big clues about the surface of the hot planet. ESA's Venus Express probe gave proof that lightning exists in the atmosphere of the planet. JAXA's Akatsuki probe almost missed the planet when the main engines for correcting the course to Venus malfunctioned, but with great thinkers and mathematicians, the team used the smaller thrusters and brought the satellite to orbit the planet, which discovered a huge 'gravity wave' on the planet.

Venus transits across the sun in 2012.
Credits: Don Pettit, NASA.

For some more detailed information, GO TO:
https://linblogpage.blogspot.com/2018/10/is-venus-ever-harbor-for-life.html

Bibliography:

"Venus" NASA. Accessed on October 10, 2018 from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/  
and
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/in-depth/

Coi, Charles. "Planet Venus Facts: A Hot, Hellish & Volcanic Planet" September 19, 2017 Space. Accessed on October 11, 2018 from
https://www.space.com/44-venus-second-planet-from-the-sun-brightest-planet-in-solar-system.html