Venus
Earth's scorching twin
Venus is similar in size and composition to Earth, but its runaway greenhouse effect has produced surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Thick clouds of sulfuric acid reflect sunlight and hide the surface from view in visible light.
Read the full Venus guideFacts, why Venus is the hottest planet, size vs. Earth, the greenhouse effect, atmosphere and clouds, missions, and how to see Venus tonight.Drag to rotate
Key facts
- Diameter
- 12,104 km
- Radius
- 6,051.8 km
- Mass
- 4.868e+24 kg
- Gravity (Earth = 1)
- 0.907
- Density
- 5.243 g/cm³
- Distance from Sun
- 108,200,000 km
- Orbital period
- 224.7 Earth days
- Rotation period
- -5832.50 hours
- Average temperature
- 464°C
- Known moons
- 0
Values are approximate and based on cited sources.
Atmosphere
- Carbon dioxide
- Nitrogen
- Sulfur dioxide
Surface
Volcanic plains, highland regions, and thousands of ancient volcanoes obscured by dense clouds.
Internal structure
An iron core, a rocky mantle, and a basaltic crust broadly similar to Earth in scale.
Moons
Venus has no known moons.
Exploration missions
Venera Program
The Soviet program that achieved the first successful landing and first surface images from another planet.
View missionMagellan
The mission that produced the first near-global high-resolution radar map of Venus.
View missionAkatsuki
Japan's Venus climate orbiter, its first successful planetary orbiter beyond Earth.
View mission
Sources
- NASA Science — Venus— last verified 2026-01-15