Kid Facts About Venus: Basically, planets, are bodies spread in the solar systems that have a fixed motion around the sun, which is otherwise called orbits. Incidentally, planets do derive their name from a Greek word which means “wanderer”.
These revolving-rotating beauties are of great interest for astronomers and scientists. Planets have always intrigued kids as well since they find it very interesting to know about the outer space. This article will deal with some cool and unknown facts about Venus and a little about planet Mercury.
REMEMBER THE PLANETS! (Without Pluto).
Table of Contents
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles.
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
Kid Facts About Venus
Now that you have landed here either because of a science project at school, or due to curiosity, or to learn a few basics, the following points will explain the same easily. Here are some awesome kid facts about Venus:
QUICK FACT:Planet Venus has its name derived from an Italian Goddess of gardens and spring and is identified as Goddess of love and beauty by Romans. She is found in Roman Mythology and Astrology which states that planet Venus is related to love, romance, harmony in one’s emotional attachments, marriages, friendships, and partnerships in business. It’s said to have feminine energy and is said to rule signs like Taurus and Libra. Initially, planet Venus was named as “Lucifer” which means “Light-bringer”. |
Physical attributes
First observed in the 17th century BC by the Babylonian astronomers, Venus positions itself in the second place away from the sun in the family of planets (with or without Pluto). It has a diameter of 12,104 Km and weighs approximately 81% of the earth which is almost 4.87*10^24 kg. The planet has a surface temperature of 462 degrees Celsius on an average, which may go up to 471 degree Celsius.
There are no seasonal variations as the planet Venus does not tilt on its axis. It’s also because the planet does not have a dense atmosphere. This is because of the presence of 96.5 percent Carbon dioxide on it. The presence of carbon dioxide in large quantities ensures that there is a greenhouse effect on the planet.
Venus is almost entirely made up of silicate rocks. The reason why life can’t exist there is due to its high surface pressure which almost 90 times higher than Earth. Venus’s surface temperature that is almost 900 degrees Fahrenheit which is almost 482.2 Celsius. This makes life impossible to survive on the planet.
Venus is a terrestrial planet, i.e., it’s as rocky as, planet Earth and is always considered as a sister planet of Earth. This is due to their close resemblance in size, mass, nearness to the sun, and bulk composition.
Gases found
Planet Venus has an average orbital speed of 35.02 km/s and has a surface pressure of 92 bar and its volume is composed with percentages of 96.5 Carbon dioxide, 3.5 Nitrogen,0.015 sulfur dioxide, 0.007 Argon, 0.002 water vapor, 0.0017 Carbon Monoxide, 0.0012 Helium, 0.0007 Neon, traces of Carbonyl Sulfide and Hydrogen Chloride and Hydrogen Flouride.
Rotation and revolution
With no moons to appear and beautify the night, it takes 243 Earth days to complete a single rotation on its axis, and 225 Earth days to complete its orbit. This counts as 117 Earth days, and it is a single day on Venus! Interestingly, planet Venus moves in the opposite direction when compared with other planets, and on the planet, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Many researchers and scientists believe that this different motion of the planet is due to a possible collision with an asteroid.
When any small-sized asteroid enters the atmosphere on planet Venus, they are automatically attracted towards the surface of the planet. It’s because of the high pressure which is equivalent to the pressure beneath the sea on Earth. Venus has an atmospheric pressure which is almost 92 times than Earth as mentioned in the article “kid facts about Earth“.
Volcanoes
There are 1000+ volcanoes or volcanic centers which are longer than 20kms. They have been found on the surface of Venus and it’s almost impossible to view the surface from space as there are thick dense clouds of Sulphuric Acid that surround the planet. Venus also has extremely large-sized rift valleys.
You may remember witnessing a shimmering spot in the evening sky and pointing it out to your friends in a beautiful relaxed evening. Chances are the tiny spot is Venus, and it appears a few hours before Sunrise. You can also see the planet a few hours after sunset and it’s not spotted in the middle of the night.
With rough ideas about planet Venus, you may be interested to know the exact geographical structure and makeup of Venus. The following section in kid facts about Venus planet will deal with the same.
Interesting kid facts about Venus that you might not be knowing
- 80 percent of the surface is smooth, volcanic plains and remaining are plains that have uneven ridges and smooth plains.
- Two highland continents make up the rest of the area. The northern continent is Ishtar Terra which has a peak reaching a height of 11 km and the southern is Aphrodite Terra.
- The impact craters are old and date almost 300-600 million years back.
- Interestingly, most surfaces are named after women (historical and mythological).
- There are volcanoes that are more than 100km long.
- The crust of Venus is older than the Earth’s crust.
- Craters in planet Venus range from 3 to 280 km in diameter and objects seem to have less kinetic energy after entering the atmosphere. The incoming projectiles that are less than 50 meters in diameter are supposed to be burnt and fragmented before reaching the ground.
- Like Earth, Venus has a partially liquid core since both the planets have been cooling at almost the same rate.
- It’s believed that planet Venus used to be like Earth, but due to the excessive greenhouse effect, the characteristics of the planet has changed.
- The surface is isothermal and has a constant temperature throughout the day and night between the equator and the poles.
- The reason it’s difficult to see the surface of Venus is due to the presence of clouds at different levels with different compositions that scatter almost 90 percent of sunlight.
- According to a recent study, Maxwell Montes is the highest and the coolest point. It has a temperature of 380 degree Celsius and has an atmospheric pressure of almost 45 bar.
- Clouds on Venus are capable of producing lighting.
- Venus contains an Ozone layer.
Now that you have read many science-filled facts for kid facts about Venus, you might want to earn more. Let’s dig into some more details on kid facts about Venus.
Magnetic fields
Given the size of Venus, you might be shocked to know that there’s a lack of magnetic field on the planet. It’s almost absent in Venus, and in addition, dynamo (conducting liquid + convection) is absent as well. This is because of its core, which is made of electrically conductive elements whose stimulation is very slow to produce a dynamo.
Climate
After knowing the temperature and composition of Venus, one might wonder what the climate is like on the surface of the planet. This section of kid facts about Venus will deal with the same.
In Venus, the top layer of clouds is filled with hurricane-force winds with an average speed of 360 km/h. There’s lightning on the planet as well and it is all about sulfuric acid. This is of great interest to scientists as it can break and join complex molecules in interesting ways.
Light in blue and ultraviolet wavelengths are absorbed greatly by clouds in Venus. Few scientists suggest that there might be life or life would have existed there due to the presence of traces of water, However, it is difficult to find out the reality due to the presence of a thick atmosphere.
Having known interesting facts about Venus, one might wonder what makes Venus an interesting planet, that it’s often an area of interest for scientists. The following section in kid facts about Venus will answer that.
COOL FACTS ABOUT VENUS:1. A year (224.7 days) is lesser than a day (243 earth days) in Venus. 2. Venus is hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closest to the sun and it’s due to the presence of Carbon Dioxide which traps heat and gives the greenhouse effect. 3. Venus is the only planet which rotates in clockwise. 4. After the Sun, Venus is the brightest natural object in the sky from Earth. 5. The very first planet to have its motions dotted across the sky is Venus. 6. The only planet with a woman’s name is Venus. 7. Venus has a very weak magnetic field compared to other planets. 8. Only Venus has a circular orbit in the entire solar system. 9. Rain in Venus is made of sulfuric acid and doesn’t reach the ground since the planet is very hot and it evaporates before reaching the ground. |
Reading these cool facts about Venus in kid facts you may wonder how do humans know so much about another planet? The next section clarifies the number of research done on Venus planet.
Space missions to Venus
- Venera 1 space probe, 1961- lost contact with the base.
- Mariner 1- failed. Mariner 2- Took a measurement of the planet in 1962.
- Soviet probes- it was first started in 1961
- Mariner 10
- Vesto Slipher- tried to measure the Doppler shift of light from Venus.
- Mariner 10- revealed ultraviolet photos of clouds and extraordinary wind speeds.
- NASA’s Mariner 2, 1962
- Akatsuki, Japan- failed due to some technical failure.
- NASA, March 2017, in collaboration with the Venera-D mission- which is still at a nascent level.
Maybe the fact that Mercury and Venus don’t have the same features as having any moon, or for some other reasons unknown, scientists are often interested in Mercury and Venus as a whole.