Venus (Astronomy)
In astronomy, the second planet from the Sun — sometimes called the 'Morning Star' — and the sixth largest in the Solar System, known since prehistoric times and the brightest object in the sky except for the Sun and the Moon.
Even though Venus is the nearest planet to Earth, virtually nothing was known about it until recently. Nearly identical to the Earth in size, it is impossible to see its surface through its dense layer of clouds.
Venus is one of the terrestrial planets, similar in nature to the Earth but slightly smaller. Like the Earth it has a substantial atmosphere.
Since its orbit lies inside that of the Earth, Venus never strays farther from the Sun than 47º. Accordingly, it can only be observed either in the east as a morning object or in the west as an evening star. As a result, like the Moon, it goes through a sequence of phases and at its brightest is actually a thin crescent close to inferior conjunction.
The spacecraft Magellan recently concluded a four year exploration of Venus — piercing its clouds with radar and mapping the surface in exquisite detail. What Magellan saw underneath those clouds was a tortured and alien landscape — still one of the most enigmatic places in the entire solar system.
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Source: NASA.
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