Planet 2 of 8
Venus
Earth's runaway twin
Almost Earth's size, Venus went the other way: a runaway greenhouse effect turned it into the hottest planet in the Solar System, hidden beneath clouds of sulfuric acid.
Quick facts
- Type
- Terrestrial
- Distance from Sun
- 0.72 AU
- Diameter
- 12,104 km
- Mass
- 0.815 × Earth
- Surface gravity
- 8.87 m/s²
- Day length
- 243 Earth days
- Year length
- 225 Earth days
- Moons
- 0
- Average temperature
- 464 °C
- Composition
- Rocky body under a crushing carbon-dioxide atmosphere
Fun facts
- It spins backwards compared with almost every other planet.
- Surface pressure equals being 900 m deep in Earth's ocean.
- A day on Venus is longer than its year.
- It is the brightest natural object in our night sky after the Moon.