Chapter IV
Venus
Fig. 4.7 Venus FieldIn the past, Venus was called the ‘clear morning star’ or by others the ‘clear evening star’.
The reason for this is that when viewed from the earth it swings across our ‘planetary view’
over a period of about sixteen months. For about eight months it is clear in the morning
and the other eight months it is clear in the evening. Its surface is covered under a thick
atmosphere where temperature rises to 500 °C. The atmosphere allows sunlight in but
not out, which causes a greenhouse effect. A constant acid rain (carbon dioxide and
sulfuric acid) falls form the clouds. It turns around the sun in 225 days and around its axis
in 243 days. The pressure of its atmosphere is about 90 times greater than that of earth.