Physical Characteristics of the Planet Venus
- She is the Earth’s sister planet, similar in size, mass, density, composition and gravity.
- She is the hottest planet in the solar system. Although Venus is not the planet closest to the sun, its dense atmosphere traps heat in a runaway version of the greenhouse effect that warms up the Earth. As a result, temperatures on Venus reach 870 degrees F (465 degrees C), more than hot enough to melt lead. Probes that scientists have landed there have survived only a few hours before getting destroyed.
- Her atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid, and scientists have only detected trace amounts of water in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is heavier than that of any other planet, leading to a surface pressure 90 times that of Earth.
- Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate on its axis, by far the slowest of any of the major planets, and because of this sluggish spin, its metal core cannot generate a magnetic field similar to Earth’s.
Venus’s Orbital Characteristics
- Venus orbits the Sun in 224.701 Earth days ( ~.615 Earth years ), moving slightly faster than Earth. Because of the two different orbital rates of Venus and Earth, Venus must orbit the sun 2.6 times while Earth orbits 1.6 times before the two planets align. This period (583.92 Earth days) is called the Earth-Venus synodic cycle (synod means “place of meeting”).
- An alignment of Earth, Venus and Sun when Venus lies between Earth and the Sun is called an inferior conjunction. Conversely, a superior conjunction occurs when the three align but with Venus lying on the far side of the Sun. A new Earth-Venus synodic cycle begins on an inferior conjunction, while the superior conjunction marks the mid-point in the synodic cycle.
- Because the Earth moves 584 Earth days, (about 1.6 years around the ecliptic) before the two planets align, each alignment occurs about 215.6° further than the previous one (about seven astrological signs apart). As this process continues, five unique Venus-Earth locations are created in the ecliptic. The result is a pentagonal synodic series that takes about eight years and which consists of five synodic cycles. This near perfect pattern (also called a grand quintile) occurs because five cycles occur in an even number of Earth years–almost.
- The sixth alignment, which begins the next synodic series, occurs near the same place as the first one, but it is shifted slightly west from the first one by about 2 to 3 degrees. This slight drift occurs because each synodic series actually occurs in 7.997 years, slightly less than eight years. This causes the entire synodic pentagonal series to continually drift westward around the ecliptic in approximately 2° increments.
- Venus revolves in the opposite direction compared to Earth and to its rotation around the sun. Thus, on Venus, the sun and stars rise in the west and set in the east. A Venus day is longer than its year, It takes Venus 243.0187 Earth days to make one rotation, and 224.701 Earth days to orbit the sun. The Venus day is exactly two-thirds of an Earth-year (243 Earth days).
- Because Venus revolves once every 2/3 of an Earth year, Venus revolves exactly twelve times in the eight-year pentagonal period – thus showing the same side of her body to Earth in the eight-year period. This near perfect harmonic resonance between the Venus day, the Venus year, and Earth’s year is one of the astrophysical dynamics creating the gentle and harmonious astrological character of Venus.
- Thus, we have 5 synodic cycles and 12 Venusian days occurring in 8 Earth years creating a near perfect Venus-Earth synergy.