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Solar System Exploration
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Venus: Facts & Figures
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Discovered By
Known by the Ancients
Date of Discovery
Unknown
Orbit Size Around Venus (semi-major axis)
Metric: 108,209,475 km
English: 67,238,251 miles
Scientific Notation: 1.0820948 x 108 km (7.2333566 x 10-1 A.U.)
By Comparison: 0.723 x Earth
Perihelion (closest)
Metric: 107,476,170 km
English: 66,782,596 miles
Scientific Notation: 1.07476 x 108 km (7.184 x 10-1 A.U.)
By Comparison: 0.731 x Earth
Aphelion (farthest)
Metric: 108,942,780 km
English: 67,693,905 miles
Scientific Notation: 1.08943 x 108 km (0.7282 A.U.)
By Comparison: 0.716 x Earth
Mean Radius
Metric: 6,051.8 km
English: 3,760.4 miles
Scientific Notation: 6.0518 x 103 km
By Comparison: 0.9499 x Earth
Mean Circumference
Metric: 38,024.6 km
English: 23,627.4 miles
Scientific Notation: 3.80246 x 104 km
By Comparison: 0.9499 x Earth's
Volume
Metric: 928,415,345,893 km3
English: 222,738,686,740 mi3
Scientific Notation: 9.28415 x 1011 km3
By Comparison: 0.857 x Earth's
Mass
Metric: 4,867,320,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
Scientific Notation: 4.8673 x 1024 kg
By Comparison: 0.815 x Earth
Density
Metric: 5.243 g/cm3
By Comparison: Comparable to the average density of the Earth.
Surface Area
Metric: 460,234,317 km2
English: 177,697,463 square miles
Scientific Notation: 4.6023 x 108 km2
By Comparison: 0.902 x Earth
Surface Gravity
Metric: 8.87 m/s2
English: 29.1 ft/s2
By Comparison: If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 91 pounds on Venus.
Escape Velocity
Metric: 37,296 km/h
English: 23,175 mph
Scientific Notation: 1.036 x 104 m/s
By Comparison: 0.926 x Earth
Sidereal Rotation Period (Length of Day)
-243.018 Earth days (retrograde)
-5832.4 hours (retrograde)
By Comparison: 243.68 x Earth
Sidereal Orbit Period (Length of Year)
0.61519726 Earth years
224.70 Earth days
By Comparison: 0.615 x Earth
Average Orbit Velocity
Metric: 126,074 km/h
English: 78,339 mph
Scientific Notation: 3.5020 x 104 m/s
By Comparison: 1.176 x Earth
Orbit Eccentricity
0.00677672
By Comparison: 0.406 x Earth
Orbit Inclination
3.39 degrees
Equatorial Inclination to Orbit
177.3 degrees (retrograde rotation)
By Comparison: 7.56 x Earth
Orbit Circumference
Metric: 679,892,378 km
English: 422,465,538 miles
Scientific Notation: 6.799 x 108 km
By Comparison: 0.723 x Earth
Minimum/Maximum Surface Temperature
Metric: 462 °C
English: 864 °F
Scientific Notation: 735 K
Atmospheric Constituents
Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen
Scientific Notation: CO2, N2
By Comparison: Earth's atmosphere consists mostly of N2 and O2.
CO2 is largely responsible for the Greenhouse Effect and is used for carbonation in beverages.
N2 is 80% of Earth's air and is a crucial element in DNA.
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Last Updated: 6 Feb 2012