Venus 
Revolutions per earth year: 0.62
Radius at equator: 6,052 km
Mass compared to earth: 0.82
Rotation period in earth days: -243.00
Density (g/cc): 5.24
Surface gravity (earth = 1): 0.91
Surface temperature: 455 degrees C
The music with the page is "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" from The Planets by Gustav Holst. In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love and beauty. The ancient Greeks referred to her as Aprhodite. In myths, she was quite vain and fickle often with terrible consequences for mortals.
Venus is sometimes called Earth's twin planet. It is nearly the same size, composed of rock, and like the Earth geologically active. The surface of Venus is not visible from the Earth because of a thick cloud cover. Early astronomers speculated that Venus had a primordial swampy environment, or was covered by a vast ocean, or was a dry, dusty desert, or was a repository of massive oil fields. All of these were proven wrong.
Venus has an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. The carbon dioxide traps incoming radiation from the sun in a super greenhouse effect. Although the surface of Venus should be about 90 degrees F hotter than Earth because of it's proximity to the Sun, the surface is actually 900 degrees F. The greenhouse effect probably explains this extreme temperature.
There is no water on Venus. Hydrogen was lost early in the history of Venus when water evaporated from the surface. A lack of water makes the rocks of Venus about 10 times stronger than those on Earth.
The surface of Venus surprised geologists. A planet must lose as much heat as it generates. Here on earth, heat is lost when magma wells up between divergent plates, at hot spots, and at volcanoes. The surface of Venus does not demonstrate plate tectonics. Heat release seems to be done slowly in small regions. There are two competing theories about the lithosphere (rock layer) of Venus: the thin crust and the thick crust. A thin crust of rock, about 100 km thick, would allow heat to escape continuously. A thick crust would require the crust to sink and be resurfaced every few million years. Gravitational data and crater analysis data have been used to support both theories equally well. An analysis of crater distribution indicates that the surface may be the same age all over the crust! If the calculations are correct, the current surface of Venus formed about 500-800 million years ago. Rivers of old lava flows are visible on the surface as are steep mountain formations. The steep slope of the mountains is maintained against gravitational sag by the strength of the rocks. No volcanic activity has been detected. Just how the surface of Venus forms and reforms is a still a mystery to be explored.
One of the problems with exploration of the surface of Venus is that probes first encounter the acidic atmosphere. Acid corrodes metal. Probes that survive the acid are then subjected to temperatures high enough to melt lead. Finally, there's the atmospheric pressure. The surface pressure of Venus is 90 Earth atmospheres or equivalent to that found on Earth at about 3000 feet below the ocean. Needless to say, surface probes have a very short life time upon entering Venus's atmosphere. The Magellan mission stayed above the atmosphere and sent back amazing images of the surface of Venus.
Click here for information about NASA's Magellan Missions to Venus.
Here's something to ponder: A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
For more information about the planet Venus go to Nine Planets.
