Where Is Venus?
Venus is second planet to the sun in our solar system; the first being Mercury and the third the Earth. Its maximum distance from the sun (aphelion) can be 1.09 x 108 km and the closest it can come to the sun (perihelion) is 1.08 x 108 km. The minimum distance from the Earth is approximately 40 million kilometers. The planet, like other planets, keeps on revolving around the sun and has no fixed location throughout the year! Venus is sometimes called the Earth’s sister planet. Both planets have almost the same size and mass and both have atmospheres.
The atmosphere of Venus is mainly carbon dioxide and it is the hottest of all planets in our solar system. The earliest missions to Venus were flown by the Soviets. They launched a number of space-probes to the planet starting with Venera 1. The first successful man made object to land on Venus was Venera 9. The Japanese plan to launch their space-probe named Akatsuki or Planet C to Venus sometime during the year 2010.
Venus is the second brightest object in the sky after the Moon. It is better known as the ‘morning star’ or the ‘evening star’. Early astronomer thought of the ‘morning star’ and the ‘evening star’ as two separate entities. The planet rotates so slowly that a day on Venus is longer than a year on the planet. Another strange fact is that to someone on Venus, the Sun would appear to rise from the west. This happens because Venus rotates in a direction opposite to that of the Earth.
Is it possible for Venus to become cooler in it’s current orbit around the sun? Also, if it did become cooler, would that mean a thinner atmosphere and subsequent lower pressure on the surface?