Venus

Venus
Venus in Orbiter
Designation
Name	Venus
Reference body	Sun
Number of satellites
Planetary mean orbits
Epoch	J2000 (1 January 2000)
Semimajor axis (a)	0.72333199 AU (1.082089255×1011 km)
Eccentricity (e)	0.00677323
Inclination (i)	3.39471° (0.0592489 radian)
Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊)	76.68069° 1.338331 radian)
Longitude of periapsis (ϖ)	131.53298° (2.295684 radian)
Mean longitude (L)	181.97973° (3.176145 radian)
Planetary orbital element centennial rates
Semimajor axis (a)	0.00000092 AU/Century
Eccentricity (e)	-0.00004938 Century-1
Inclination (i)	-2.86 seconds/Century
Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊)	-996.89 seconds/Century
Longitude of periapsis (ϖ)	-108.80 seconds/Century
Mean longitude (L)	210664136.06 seconds/Century
Selected physical parameters|
Mean radius	6051.84 km
Mass	4.86855374×1024 kg
Density	5.204 g/cm3
Sidereal rotation period	-5832.444 hours
Sidereal orbit period	0.6151826 years
Magnitude V(1,0)	-4.4
Geometric albedo	0.65
Equatorial gravity	8.87 m/s2
Escape velocity	10.361 km/s
Rotation elements
North pole right ascension (α1)	272.78°
North pole declination (δ1)	67.21°
Obliqutiy of ecliptic	1.27°
Longitude of Sun's transit	301.07°
Atmospheric parameters
Surface Pressure	9200 kPa
Surface Density	~65 kg/m/3
Scale height	15.9 km
Average temperature	737 K
Wind speeds	0.3-1 m/s (surface)
Ecliptic position from primary*
Note	*Elements given are from Orbiter.pdf (2016)

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It has a day longer than a year. The year length of Venus is 225 Earth days. The day length of Venus is 243 Earth days. It is a terrestrial planet because it has a solid, rocky surface like other planets in the inner solar system. Astronomers have known Venus for thousands of years. The ancient Romans named it after their goddess Venus. Venus is the brightest thing in the night sky except for the Moon. It is sometimes called the morning star or the evening star as at some elongations it is easily seen just before the sun comes up in the morning and, at other elongations, just after the sun goes down in the evening. Venus comes closer to the Earth than any other planet does.

Venus is sometimes called the sister planet of Earth as they are quite similar in size and gravity. In other ways, the planets are very different. Venus' atmosphere (air) is mostly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid is a chemical that is very poisonous to humans.

The thick atmosphere has made it hard to see the surface, and until the twenty-first century, many people thought things might live there. The pressure on Venus' surface is 92 times that of Earth. Venus has no moons. Venus spins very slowly on its axis and it spins in the opposite direction to the other planets.

Surface features

Although Venus is modeled as a sphere, there are more than 2000 surface features marked on Venus and are labeled if the labels are turned on in the Display menu.

See List of surface features on Venus

Missions to Venus available as add-ons

• Mariner 2 at Orbit Hangar
• Mariner 10 by missleman01 at Orbit Hangar
• Mariner 10 for Orbiter 2010 by felipi1205 at Orbit Hangar
• STS-30 (Atlantis) and Magellan by Gargantua2024 at Orbit Hangar
• Venus Express by martyspacelines at Orbit Hangar
• Messenger by Ëåäíåff at Orbit Hangar
• GEP - Messenger by thexfiles19 at Orbit Hangar
• Venera 9 by 4th rock at Orbit Hangar
• Vega1 & Vega2 by brianj at Orbit Hangar
• Venera-D by kodiak at Orbit Hangar

Historical missions to Venus

For a complete list of historical missions, see Missions to Venus.

Flight Warning!

At the surface of Venus, the atmospheric pressure is 9.2MPa, over 90 atmospheres. This is substantially greater than the back-pressure which standard rocket motors are able to generate; a Delta-glider landed on Venus will not be able to take off (at least if the complex flight model is in use).

See Also

• Venus at Wikipedia.
• Go to Addons for Venus

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