Venus
| Venus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Venus in Orbiter 2016 with D3D9 | |
| Designation | |
| Name | Venus |
| Reference body | Sun |
| Number of satellites | |
| Planetary mean orbits | |
| Epoch | J2000 (1 January 2000) |
| Semimajor axis (a) | 0.72333199 AU (1.082089255×1011 km) |
| Eccentricity (e) | 0.00677323 |
| Inclination (i) | 3.39471° (0.0592489 radian) |
| Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊) | 76.68069° 1.338331 radian) |
| Longitude of periapsis (ϖ) | 131.53298° (2.295684 radian) |
| Mean longitude (L) | 181.97973° (3.176145 radian) |
| Planetary orbital element centennial rates | |
| Semimajor axis (a) | 0.00000092 AU/Century |
| Eccentricity (e) | -0.00004938 Century-1 |
| Inclination (i) | -2.86 seconds/Century |
| Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊) | -996.89 seconds/Century |
| Longitude of periapsis (ϖ) | -108.80 seconds/Century |
| Mean longitude (L) | 210664136.06 seconds/Century |
| Selected physical parameters| | |
| Mean radius | 6051.84 km |
| Mass | 4.86855374×1024 kg |
| Density | 5.204 g/cm3 |
| Sidereal rotation period | -5832.444 hours |
| Sidereal orbit period | 0.6151826 years |
| Magnitude V(1,0) | -4.4 |
| Geometric albedo | 0.65 |
| Equatorial gravity | 8.8606 m/s2 |
| Orbital speed at surface | 7328 m/s |
| Escape velocity | 10.361 km/s |
| SOI radius (estimated) | 1.68×108 m |
| Rotation elements | |
| North pole right ascension (α1) | 272.78° |
| North pole declination (δ1) | 67.21° |
| Obliqutiy of ecliptic | 1.27° |
| Longitude of Sun's transit | 301.07° |
| Atmospheric parameters | |
| Surface Pressure | 9200 kPa |
| Surface Density | ~65 kg/m/3 |
| Scale height | 15.9 km |
| Average temperature | 737 K |
| Wind speeds | 0.3-1 m/s (surface) |
| Ecliptic position from primary* | |
| Note | *Elements given are from Orbiter.pdf (2016) |
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It has a day longer than a year. The year length of Venus is 225 Earth days. The day length of Venus is 243 Earth days. It is a terrestrial planet because it has a solid, rocky surface like other planets in the inner solar system. Astronomers have known Venus for thousands of years. The ancient Romans named it after their goddess Venus. Venus is the brightest thing in the night sky except for the Moon. It is sometimes called the morning star or the evening star as at some elongations it is easily seen just before the sun comes up in the morning and, at other elongations, just after the sun goes down in the evening. Venus comes closer to the Earth than any other planet does.
Venus is sometimes called the sister planet of Earth as they are quite similar in size and gravity. In other ways, the planets are very different. Venus' atmosphere (air) is mostly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid is a chemical that is very poisonous to humans.
The thick atmosphere has made it hard to see the surface, and until the twenty-first century, many people thought things might live there. The pressure on Venus' surface is 92 times that of Earth. Venus has no moons. Venus spins very slowly on its axis and it spins in the opposite direction to the other planets.
Surface features
Although Venus is modeled as a sphere, there are more than 2000 surface features marked on Venus and are labeled if the labels are turned on in the Display menu.
See List of surface features on Venus
Historical missions to Venus
For a complete list of historical missions, see Missions to Venus.
Venus add-ons
Add-ons for Venus beginning with the most recent.
| Add-on | Source | Version | Author | Type | Release Date | Compatibility | Wiki article |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orbiter 2016 - torrent files | O-F Resources | 2016 | martins | Orbiter Download | 23 August 2016 | Orbiter 2016 | |
| Orbiter 2016 Core - MSI / EXE edition | O-F Resources | 2016 | martins | Orbiter Download | 23 August 2016 | Orbiter 2016 | |
| Orbiter 2016 Core - ZIP edition | O-F Resources | 2016 | martins | Orbiter download | 23 August 2016 | Orbiter 2016 | |
| Orbiter core package download (The actual download page for Orbiter 2016) |
Orbiter download page | Orbiter 2016 | martins | Orbiter download | 23 August 2016 | Orbiter 2016 | |
| Orbiter 2010-P1 | O-F Resources | 100830 | martins | Orbiter Download | 30 August 2010 | Orbiter 2010-P1 | |
| Orbiter 2010 | O-F Resources | 100606 | martins | Orbiter Download | 5 June 2010 | Orbiter 2010 | |
| STS-30 (Atlantis) and Magellan | O-F Resources | 2020-08-10 | Gargantua2024 | Spacecraft | 10 August 2020 | Orbiter 2016 | |
| Venus surface and heightmap tiles for Orbiter 2016 | O-F Resources | 2016-12-04 | 4throck | Scenery | 4 December 2016 | Orbiter 2016 | |
| Multiple slingshot scenarios to outer planets | O-F Resources | 2016-08-29 | downloaderfan | Scenarios | 30 August 2016 | ||
| Rosetta - Comet 67/P Landing Mission, ver. 3B | O-F Resources | ver. 3B | flug | Spacecraft | 19 November 2014 | ||
| Venus Base | O-F Resources | 2014-04-17 | drummer054 | Scenery | 17 April 2014 | ||
| Venus Level 9 global textures | O-F Resources | 2012-11-24 | 4throck | Scenery | 24 November 2012 | ||
| Venus Heightmap | O-F Resources | 2012-11-04 | 4throck | Scenery | 4 November 2012 | ||
| NASA - Titan Odyssey 2.0 | O-F Resources | 2.0 | ionif | Scenarios | 13 October 2012 | Orbiter 2010 | |
| NASA - Titan Odyssey 1.0 | O-F Resources | 1.0 | ionif | Scenarios | 13 October 2012 | Orbiter 2010 | |
| Pioneer Venus 1 | O-F Resources | 2012-03-05 | TheXFiles19 | Spacecraft | 5 March 2012 | ||
| GEP Mariner 2 | O-F Resources | 2011-05-23 | Felipi1205 | Spacecraft | 24 May 2011 | Orbiter 2006-P1 | |
| Grand Exploration Probes- Mariner 2 | O-F Resources | 2011-05-22 | Felipi1205 | Spacecraft | 22 May 2011 | Orbiter 2006-P1 | |
| Venus 8 level texture | O-F Resources | 2011-03-05 | sergsh | Scenery | 5 March 2011 | ||
| Vega1 & Vega2 | O-F Resources | 2010-09-28 | BrianJ | Spacecraft | 29 September 2010 | Orbiter 2010-P1 | |
| Venus HiRes Level 8 | O-F Resources | 2009-12-01 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 1 December 2009 | ||
| Venera 9 | O-F Resources | v1.0-091005 | 4throck | Spacecraft | 5 October 2009 | ||
| Io Orbiter | O-F Resources | 2008-12-25 | Piper | Spacecraft | 25 December 2008 | ||
| Shukra_Venus_Station_080813 | O-F Resources | 080813 | Artlav | Scenery | 13 August 2008 | UMMU | |
| Venus Express | O-F Resources | 2008-06-25 | MartySpaceLines | Spacecraft | 25 June 2008 | ||
| Venus Star v 0.5 | O-F Resources | 2007-11-06 | Tsynique | Spacecraft | 6 November 2007 | ||
| 145 Year Solar System Tour | O-F Resources | 2007-02-28 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenarios | 28 February 2007 | ||
| Venera-D | O-F Resources | 2006-12-09 | Kodiak | Spacecraft | 9 December 2006 | ||
| Orbiter 2006-P1 | O-F Resources | 060929 | martins | Orbiter Download | 29 September 2006 | Orbiter 2006-P1 | |
| The Double Planet Solar System | O-F Resources | 2006-07-09 | ijuin | Scenery | 10 July 2006 | ||
| Venusbase | O-F Resources | 2006-05-29 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 30 May 2006 | Orbiter 2006 | |
| Orbiter 2006 | O-F Resources | 060504 | martins | Orbiter Download | 4 May 2006 | Orbiter 2006 | |
| Floating Base Titan-Venus v0.9 | O-F Resources | v0.9 | Peaceman | Scenery | 24 April 2006 | ||
| Solar System Bases V7.0 Final | O-F Resources | V7.0 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 21 January 2006 | ||
| OP Center Farenheit | O-F Resources | 2006-01-19 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 19 January 2006 | ||
| Emissary Galleon v2 | O-F Resources | v2 | perseus | Spacecraft | 2 June 2005 | ||
| Topographic Green Images for Map MFD | O-F Resources | 2005-02-15 | Drake | Miscellaneous | 15 February 2005 | ||
| 2005 (with P1 patch files) | O-F Resources | 050216 | martins | Orbiter Download | 16 February 2005 | Orbiter 2005 | |
| Lo Res Planets (for slow computers) | O-F Resources | 2004-12-18 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 18 December 2004 | ||
| GEP- Cassini-Huygens V 1.2 | O-F Resources | V 1.2 | missleman01 | Spacecraft | 26 June 2004 | ||
| GEP - Galileo | O-F Resources | 2004-06-18 | missleman01 | Spacecraft | 19 June 2004 | ||
| GEP - Magellan | O-F Resources | 2004-06-17 | missleman01 | Spacecraft | 18 June 2004 | ||
| Orbiter 2003-P2 | O-F Resources | 031217 | martins | Orbiter Download | 17 December 2003 | Orbiter 2003-P2 | |
| Orbiter 2003-P1 | O-F Resources | 031105 | martins | Orbiter Download | 5 November 2003 | ||
| Orbiter 2002 | O-F Resources | 020419 | martins | Orbiter Download | 19 April 2002 | Orbiter 2002 | |
| Orbiter 2001 | O-F Resources | 010503 | martins | Orbiter Download | 3 May 2001 | Orbiter 2001 |
Flight Warning!
At the surface of Venus, the atmospheric pressure is 9.2MPa, over 90 atmospheres. This is substantially greater than the back-pressure which standard rocket motors are able to generate; a Delta-glider landed on Venus will not be able to take off (at least if the complex flight model is in use).
See Also
Venus in Orbiter 2001 
Venus in Orbiter 2002 
Venus in Orbiter 2002P3 
Venus in Orbiter 2003P2 
Venus in Orbiter 2005P1 
Venus in Orbiter 2006P1 
Venus in Orbiter 2010P1 
Venus in Orbiter 2016 with D3D9 
Venus as seen by MESSENGER 5 June 2007 
Inner Solar System bodies for size comparison
from left
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Ceres
View of the inner Solar System showing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
from JPL Horizons Orbit Viewer
| edit The Solar System | |
|---|---|
| Central star |
Sun (Sol) |
| Planets |
Mercury - Venus - Earth - Mars - Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune |
| Natural satellites |
Moon - Phobos - Deimos - Io - Europa - Ganymede - Titan - more... |
| Add-ons |
Planets - Dwarf Planets - Small objects - Natural satellites - Alternative star systems |
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