Venus
Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is also known as Earth’s twin because of their similarity in size. Ancient astronomers called the object that appeared in the morning Phosphorus, and the object that appeared at night Hesperus. Later, they realized these two objects were the same planet. They named it Venus in honour of the Roman Goddess of beauty and love. Venus’ orbit is nearly a perfect circle. It can also be seen going through phases as those of the moon. Venus’ harsh temperatures and volcanic surface makes it entirely impossible for any life to exist. Orbit compared to the other planets whose orbits are more elliptical, Venus’ are nearly a perfect circle. Its orbit from the Sun has only a difference of.9 million miles, 67.7 million miles away at its furthest point, and 66.8 at its closest. Venus takes about 225 Earth-days, or about 71/2 months, to go around the Sun once, compared with 365 days, or one year, for the Earth. Its mean (average) distance from the Sun is about 67.2 million miles, compared with 93 million miles for the Earth and about 36 million miles for Mercury. Rotation as Venus travels around the Sun; it rotates very slowly on its axis.
