Welcome to our new post! In this article, I will introduce you to some curiosities about the planet Venus. Get ready to learn amazing things about the second planet of our solar system and surprise your friends with these interesting facts.

It has been known since ancient times, because, like Mercury, advanced telescopes are not needed to spot it. It's also the brightest planet which helps its observation, it's just not brighter than the sun and the moon. You may be wondering, but why does this planet shine? Does it emit light? And the answer is no, its atmosphere is very rich in carbon dioxide, which allows it to reflect light. Its glow can be seen at dusk, before sunset, and during the early hours of the night.

Did you know that Venus is the hottest planet? Even hotter than the first planet in our solar system, Mercury. This is due to its dense and toxic atmosphere that contains large amounts of carbon dioxide and clouds composed of sulfuric acid. These gasses retain heat. The temperature can reach 470 degrees Celsius.

A curiosity about this planet is that due to its high temperature, some metals could not exist in their solid form, such as lead.

On the surface of Venus you can see mountains and volcanoes, which is why it is considered a very active planet. The size is a little smaller than the Earth.

The rotation of this planet is very slow, taking about 243 days to complete just one rotation, giving it the title of planet with the longest day in our solar system. However, the years there go by very quickly due to its proximity to the sun. To complete the translation around the sun it takes approximately 225 Earth days. The curious thing about this planet is that one day is longer than the year. The sun on Venus rises twice a day.

This planet has no moon. Many years ago it was believed that it had a satellite that was called Neith, but it was discovered that it is not true. What was thought to be the satellite was just a star in the right place and time. It is considered a rocky and small planet.

Venus rotates in the opposite direction to Earth and most of the planets. And therefore the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. The reason for the inversion of sense is unknown, but it is thought to have been due to a collision with asteroids in the past. A study published in Nature affirms that it is the dense atmosphere and with great movement that allows this planet to rotate, otherwise it would forever look at the sun in a static way. They also point out that the gravity of a larger body can prevent the rotation of a smaller one.

The atmosphere of this planet is much more integrated with the planet itself than that of the other planets. It has such fast winds that it takes just 4 days for the atmosphere to circle the planet, which also slows down its rotation. The winds on this planet can reach up to 724 kilometers per hour, a speed approximately 4 times faster than a tornado on Earth.

The name Venus comes from the Roman goddess of beauty, fertility, and love. And in contrast to her homage, it does not have a very friendly or receptive environment, but rather chaotic. There are also certain similarities between Venus and Earth, such as the dense atmosphere and clouds. Due to the density of the atmosphere, meteorites tend to disintegrate abruptly.

The pressure on Venus is also extreme, being 90 times stronger than that on Earth and the highest atmospheric pressure in our solar system. And guess…? The atmosphere is also guilty of this feature.

Several spacecraft have already visited this planet, including: Mariner 2, Mariner 5, Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus 1, Pioneer Venus 2, and Magellan (an orbiter).

To inspect the surface of Venus they have used radars, because its dense atmosphere impairs the observation of the surface. It is thought that there are approximately 1,600 volcanoes on the surface of Venus. It is not known if all these volcanoes are active.

When investigating the surface of this planet they have found a crater that is 72 km wide. Up to the present time no water was found on this planet. It has two main plateaus as continents, Ishtar Terra and Aphrodite Terra. Ishtar Terra is similar in size to Australia and is home to the largest mountain on Venus, larger than Mount Everest. Already Aphrodite Terra is about the size of South America. Between Ishtar Terra and Aphrodite Terra there are several depressions.

A curious fact is that due to the chaotic scenario of Venus, the existence of life was not believed to be possible, although a discovery aroused the spark of doubt. They found phosphine on the nebular surface, this molecule exists on Earth and is generated by microbes. NASA scientists say that there is a possibility that in the past Venus had an ocean and had more habitable conditions.

The only manifestation of water is in the clouds in the form of vapor and in a very small quantity, more or less 200 parts per million. Even so, it was reported by the Venus Express probe in 2008 that on Venus there is still an amount of hydrogen being dispersed into space.

Not having a protective layer, it is very possible that the water has evaporated, dispersing the hydrogen into space and grouping the oxygen into carbon dioxide. Because it is a very dry planet, the rocks are heavier than those of the Earth.

Venus has phases just like the moon, actually all the planets in the solar system also have phases. The phases of this planet had already been observed in 1610 by Galileo. It is in full phase when it is behind the sun, that is, it cannot be seen from Earth. In the new phase it is between the Earth and the Sun.

Venus is the closest planet in distance from Earth and has reached a maximum proximity of 39,514,827 kilometers in 1850. It is estimated that in the year 2401 there will be a similar approach.

A curious fact is that it is much more difficult to land on Venus than on Mars, the variable atmospheric density of Venus makes atmospheric braking maneuvers very difficult. The first attempt to investigate Venus was made by the Venera 1 space probe in 1961, but it was lost en route. The first probe to fly over the planet and collect data on it was Mariner 2 in 1962. Venera 3 was the first probe to land on Venus. It crashed on the planet in 1966. During the landing the communication system failed, for which reason data about the planet could not be received. Venera 4 in 1967 was the first probe to transmit data from another planet, during its stay it was able to measure pressures, temperatures and densities. Over the years several probes were able to collect data on Venus.

There is a research model with crew members on Venus suggested by Sergei Zhitomirskiy of not landing on the planet, but building a kind of floating city in the portions of the atmosphere that most closely resemble Earth's. At a distance of 5 km from the surface, the temperature and pressure of Venus are similar to that of the Earth.