The two large highlands found on Venus are: 1. Ishtar Terra 2. Aphrodite Terra

2. The planet Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is known as
the jewel of the sky. It is the sixth largest planet and has an
orbit more circular than any other planet. The eccentricity is
measured to be less than 1%. The orbit extends to
108,200,000 kilometers (0.72 AU) from the Sun and has a
diameter of 12,103.6 kilometers. It has a mass of 4.869 x
1024 kilograms.
Venus was thought to be two separate bodies, Eosphorus
(the morning star) and Hesperus (the evening star). It is
named after the goddess of love and beauty probably
because it is the brightest planet seen in the ancient times.
1. The second planet
from the sun?

3. Who Discovered Venus
• Galileo Galilee and Nicolas Copernicus (the one
who first saw the planets through a telescope
and the one who hypothesized that the planets
revolve around the Sun, respectively).
• Among the first correct Venus observations was
that of Pythagoras’, the Greek philosopher
credited for the Pythagorean Theorem (a
mathematical—specifically a geometrical—
concept). Pythagoras observed that the so-called
morning and evening stars were in fact the same.
2. The one who discovered
Venus?

4. When Was Venus
Discovered
The Babylonians provide the earliest record of
observing this planet at around 1581 BC; the
Persians in 1032 made a record of the Transit of
Venus. Given the designation of the “morning
star” & “evening star”, the Greeks had initially
thought that these were two separate stars
when in fact it was only one.

5. Internal structure of Venus
Q3-4
Give at least
two
structure of
planet
Venus.

6. Some Pictures of Venus
Venus full size
Venus topography

7. Venus flat global view
Venus lightning
Venus map
Venus impact craters

8. Venus Profile Q5: Average distance
from the sun?
Mass (kg): 4.87 x 1024
Diameter (km) : 12104
Mean density (kg/m3) : 5250
Escape velocity (m/s) : 10400
Average distance from Sun : (108,208,930 km)
Rotation period (length of day in Earth days) : 243.02
(retrograde)
Revolution period (length of year in Earth days) : 224.7
Obliquity (tilt of axis degrees) : 178
Orbit inclination (degrees) : 3.39

9. Orbit eccentricity (deviation from circular) : 0.007
Mean surface temperature (K) : 726
Visual geometric albedo (reflectivity) : 0.59
Highest point on surface : Maxwell Montes (17 km
above mean planetary radius)
Atmospheric components : 96% carbon dioxide, 3%
nitrogen, 0.1% water vapor
Surface materials : basaltic rock and altered
materials

10. What is Venus Made Of?
The atmosphere of
Venus is composed
mainly of carbon
dioxide (96%), 3.5%
nitrogen, and less than
1% is made up of
carbon
monoxide, argon, sulfu
r dioxide, and water
vapor.

11. Distance from the sun
The planet Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun (distance 108
million km ) and our nearest planetary neighbor. It takes about 225 days
to orbit the Sun. Its retrograde rotation of 243 days means that the planet
spins from east to west, rather than west to east, as the Earth does. So on
Venus the Sun (though invisible through the clouds) rises in the west and
sets in the east. This slow retrograde rotation results in Venus' solar day
lasting 117 terrestrial days. Like Mercury, Venus has no known natural
moon, so we can only measure its mass accurately when a spacecraft
passes or orbits it. Venus' mass turns out to be about 0.82 times that of
the Earth or 4.9 x 10 24 kg.

12. Venus goes in a clockwise retrograde rotation. The
current rotation period of Venus is a state of equilibrium
between the gravitational tides locking made by the Sun.
This lessens the rotation rate as well as an atmospheric
tide made by the heating of Venus’ atmosphere.
Venus takes 242 earth days to rotate on its axis, so a
day on Venus is about 242 Earth days. This is the slowest
rate of a planet in our Solar System. 243 earth days in
Venus takes longer than a Venusians year which is 224.7
earth days. The sun also rises in the west and sets on the
east in Venus.

13. Venus has no moon
One theory suggests that Venus experienced an impact similar to Earth.
However, the gravity of Venus was not able to hold on to the fragmented piece
that drifted into space. A similar theory suggests that Venus did have a moon
once but it escaped the gravity pull of the planet.
Since Venus is close to the Sun, it is possible that the gravity of the Sun affected
its satellite, causing it to escape Venus’s influence.
David Stevenson, a Caltech professor, and Alex Elemi, a Caltech
student, proposed that an object collided with Venus many years ago, which
created a moon. However, another impact event caused the change in Venus’s
rotation that also explains the inverse rotation of the planet. Due to the slow and
inverted rotation of the planet, it caused a moon linked to Venus, it started
moving towards the planet. This then resulted to Venus reabsorbing its natural
satellite.

14. MASS AND DENSITY The diameter of Venus is 7,521
miles or 12, 104 kilometers. This
is close to the 7,926 miles or
12,756 km diameter of the Earth.
Venus’ mass is roughly 80
percent that of Earth’s. 95% of
Earth’s density is the density of
Venus.
Its mass is 4.868 5 × 1024 kg and
its total volume is 9.38 × 1011
km3 . Contrary to popular
belief, the size of a planet does
not play any role in determining
Q6: how many mass percent the density of the planet.
does the planet Venus have?

15. Q8: Average surface
temperature of earth.
Earth Venus
Diameter 12,742 km 12,100 km
Mass 5.9736×1024kg 4.868 x1024 kg
Surface Gravity 9.78 m/s2 8.87m/s2
Surface Area 510,072,000 km2 460,000,000 km2
Volume 1.08321×1012km3 9.38×1011km3
1 Day 243 Earth days 23h 56m
1 Year 224.7 Earth days 365.25 days
Surface Atmospheric Pressure 92 times that of Earth
Average Surface Temperature 14 degrees Celsius 462 degrees Celsius

16. WATER
The apparent lack of water on Venus is more puzzling than its thick atmosphere of
carbon dioxide. Obviously missing are features produced by the circulation of water
through the atmosphere and on the surface of Venus. River valleys, oceans,
groundwater, glaciers, and ice caps---all important elements of change on Earth and
Mars---are not apparent in radar images of Venus. At least three explanations for the
absence of water-related features need to be considered.
1. The bulk of Venus is inherently water-poor, but not carbon-poor.
2. Venus contained water that outgases. However, the water never condensed to
form a liquid, because of the high atmospheric temperatures.
3. Water vapor outgases, condensed to a liquid, and flowed across and shaped the
landscape, but then disappeared and all ancient landscapes were subsequently
destroyed.
Q.7
Give at least one explanation for the
absence of water-related to be considered.

17. Venus compared with the Earth
The surface of Venus is shown in orange as radar images while the atmosphere is
reproduced on near true colors as it would be seen by the human eye. The upper
clouds are brightest in the blue and ultraviolet wavelengths making Venus a
white-blue color planet. Both planets have almost the same size and density and
Venus is only a 30% closer to the Sun than Earth. Both share an interesting
geological evolution with old volcanoes in Venus and some of them could still be
active. One of the biggest miseries of Venus is why its surface is so young on
geological time-scales. It is interesting to remark that there is almost no water on
Venus' atmosphere.

18. Q.9-10
What are the two
large highlands found
in Venus?
A shaded relief map of Venus was constructed from radar altimeter data collected by the
Magellan orbiter. Two large highlands named Ishtar and Aphrodite rise above vast expanses of
rolling lowlands.
These maps revealed that most of the surface of Venus consists of relatively smooth
lowlands with local relief of less than 1000 meters. Two continent-sized highlands and
several smaller ones rise above the uplands. These plateau like highlands are
complexly deformed by tectonic processes and have few volcanoes. Large lithospheric
domes with abundant volcanic features makeup the uplands with elevations between
those of the lowlands and the highlands.