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Earth and Venus: Heaven and Hell Come to Mind
Two neighbouring planets that could hardly be more different
Image of Venus.
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and Venus comes second closest at an average distance of just over 108 million kilometres, 67 million miles from our local star.
You would think that Mercury, being the closest planet to the Sun, would be the hottest, but no, Venus has the title of being the hottest planet in the Solar System.
It is also the second-brightest object in the night sky, with the moon being the brightest. Venus is a little smaller than the Earth, with a diameter of 12,100 kilometres, 7,520 miles. It takes just over 224 days to complete its orbit around the sun, which is known as a Venusian year.
Surprisingly, a day on Venus is longer than its year, taking an incredible 243 Earth days to complete one turn on its axis. Another strange thing about Venus is that it turns on its axis in a clockwise direction, the opposite direction from the rest of the planets in the solar system. This means that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
