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Venus: Facts About the Solar System’s Hottest Planet

Venus is hotter than Mercury because its dense carbon-dioxide atmosphere traps heat. Explore its extreme surface, unusual rotation, clouds and scientific study.
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Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System, even though Mercury orbits closer to the Sun. Its thick, carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere traps heat so efficiently that Venus’s mean surface temperature is 464°C (867°F), according to NASA. The planet is similar to Earth in size, but its crushing pressure, acidic clouds and extreme heat make it a very different world.

What is Venus like?

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and Earth’s closest planetary neighbor, according to NASA Science. Its mean radius is 6,051.8 km, compared with Earth’s 6,371.0 km, but similarity in size does not mean similarity in conditions. The planet has no known moons, and its rocky surface is concealed from ordinary visible-light views by a dense cloud layer.

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NASA’s Venus Fact Sheet gives a mean surface temperature of 464°C for Venus and 15°C for Earth. Venus’s mean temperature is 867°F (464°C) in NASA’s Solar System Temperatures comparison, published February 15, 2022.

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Why is Venus hotter than Mercury?

Mercury is closer to the Sun, but Venus is hotter because its atmosphere holds onto heat. The atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that slows the escape of heat radiating from the surface. Mercury has no comparable dense atmosphere to retain heat, so proximity alone does not determine which planet is hottest.

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NASA’s 2022 mean-temperature comparison lists Mercury at 167°C (333°F) and Venus at 464°C (867°F). Venus’s surface is hot enough to melt lead.

What are Venus’s atmosphere and surface like?

A dense, high-pressure atmosphere

Near the surface, Venus’s atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, with nitrogen the next major component. The pressure at the surface is about 93 times Earth’s sea-level pressure, according to NASA Science. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center fact sheet reports 92 bars. These are rounded descriptions of the planet’s crushing surface pressure, not conditions a person or ordinary spacecraft could withstand unaided.

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Acid clouds and hidden terrain

Venus’s clouds are made of sulfuric acid and block a direct view of the ground in visible light. Radar observations have revealed a rugged world with volcanoes and deformed mountains. NASA says the Magellan spacecraft mapped much of the surface with radar; those observations show extensive volcanism and geological evidence of relatively recent resurfacing. That history does not establish that every volcano is active today.

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How long is a day on Venus?

It depends on what “day” means. Venus spins very slowly in the direction opposite to most planets’ rotation. NASA’s Goddard fact sheet gives its sidereal rotation—the time for one turn relative to the stars—as −5,832.6 hours, or about 243.69 Earth days. The negative sign denotes retrograde rotation in the fact sheet’s convention. Because of that direction, the Sun would appear to rise in the west and set in the east.

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A solar day, measured from one sunrise to the next, is about 117 Earth days. That is shorter than the sidereal rotation because Venus is also moving along its orbit as it spins. Venus completes one orbit around the Sun in 224.701 Earth days, or about 225 days—shorter than its sidereal rotation period.

Can you see Venus from Earth?

Yes. Venus can show phases like the Moon as its position relative to Earth and the Sun changes. NASA notes that the phases can be followed with binoculars or a telescope. If you want to observe the change over time, either can help; a telescope is not necessary to understand the planet’s basic features.

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Could there be life in Venus’s clouds?

Some cloud-layer conditions are less extreme than the surface. Around 50 km above the ground, NASA reports temperatures of roughly 30°C to 70°C and pressure similar to Earth’s surface pressure. Those conditions could be compatible with some Earthly extremophiles, but they are not evidence that life exists on Venus. The planet’s sulfuric-acid clouds and broader chemistry also make the question more complex than temperature and pressure alone.

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What can scientists investigate on Venus?

Radar has been essential for mapping terrain hidden beneath the clouds. NASA’s DAVINCI mission is designed to study Venus from above the clouds down to the surface, investigating how the planet formed and evolved and how its massive atmosphere works. NASA’s DAVINCI science overview describes these objectives; it does not establish a mission schedule here.

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