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Venus is the second planet from the sun. Its average distance from the sun is 67 million miles. Sometimes called Earth\'s sister planet, Venus is slightly smaller than Earth. It\'s also our closest neighbor at about 25 million miles away from Earth. Venus is hot enough to melt lead. Its surface temperature can get close to 900°F. This makes Venus the hottest place in the solar system after the sun. After the sun and moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky. Because its thick clouds reflect most of the light Venus gets from the sun, the planet looks like a very bright star in the morning (just before sunrise) or evening (just after sunset) sky. The surface of Venus is covered with craters, mountains, volcanoes, and lava plains. Maxwell Montes is the highest point on Venus. It is more than 7 miles high. Standing on Venus would be like standing in a shallow bowl. The atmosphere is so thick and heavy that it bends light, making the ground appear to curve upward in all directions. The planet\'s atmosphere is 90 times heavier than Earth\'s. Venus has sulfuric acid clouds. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (96%), nitrogen (3.5%), and carbon monoxide, argon, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor (all less than 1%). It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go around the sun one time. Venus spins on its axis once every 243 Earth days, but it spins in the opposite direction of Earth. On Venus, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. To escape Venus\'s gravity you have to travel at 23,300 miles per hour. Venus was identified with the Roman goddess Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. To the ancient Mayans, Venus was the patron planet of warfare called Kukulcan.
From space Venus looks like Earth, but it isn\'t. On Earth, the clouds are made of water vapor. On Venus, the clouds are made of sulfuric acid.
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