Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and the sixth largest planet. It’s the hottest planet in our solar system.

Facts About Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and the sixth largest planet. It’s the hottest planet in our solar system.

Venus is a cloud-swaddled planet named for a love goddess, and often called Earth’s twin. But pull up a bit closer, and Venus turns hellish. Our nearest planetary neighbor, the second planet from the Sun, has a surface hot enough to melt lead. The atmosphere is so thick that, from the surface, the Sun is just a smear of light.

As it sped away, NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this seemingly peaceful view of Venus, wrapped in a dense, global cloud layer. Contrary to its serene appearance, the clouded globe of Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Venus by the Numbers

How big is Venus? How far is it from the Sun?

Use this tool to compare Venus to Earth, and other planets.

image of Venus with detailed surface features

The surface of Venus is an inferno with temperatures hot enough to melt lead. This image is a composite of data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Exploring Venus

Dozens of spacecraft have launched to explore Venus, but not all have been successful.

NASA's Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit any planet beyond Earth when it flew past Venus on Dec. 14, 1962. NASA is planning two new missions to Venus: VERITAS, and DAVINCI.

A close-up of the head of the rover's remote sensing mast. The mast head contains the SuperCam instrument. (Its lens is in the large circular opening.) In the gray boxes beneath mast head are the two Mastcam-Z imagers. On the exterior sides of those imagers are the rover's two navigation cameras.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Venus Resources

Explore this page for a curated collection of resources about Venus, including activities that can be done at home, as well as videos, animations, printable graphics, and podcasts.

This resource package is suitable for educators, students, and anyone interested in learning more about Venus! In addition to the resources on this page, follow along with updates on Venus science and upcoming missions through @NASASolarSystem on your preferred social media platform.

In a Magellan image dubbed the "Crater Farm" we see the curious layering of volcanic activity and impact craters.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Eyes on the Solar System lets you explore the planets, their moons, asteroids, comets and the spacecraft exploring them from 1950 to 2050.

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Venus

13 Images

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The northern hemisphere is displayed in this global view of the surface of Venus as seen by NASA Magellan spacecraft.

Venus Cloud Tops Viewed by Hubble. This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet-light image of the planet Venus, taken on January 24 1995, when Venus was at a distance of 70.6 million miles 113.6 million kilometers from Earth.

Gula Mons is displayed in this computer-simulated view from NASA Magellan spacecraft of the surface of Venus.

A corona is displayed in this computer-simulated view from NASA Magellan spacecraft of the surface of Venus.

Computer-generated three-dimensional perspective view of Venus

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Learn More

For Kids: All About Venus
Facts about Venus for kids.
Venus Resource Package
Activities that can be done at home as well as videos, animations, printable graphics, and podcasts.
NASA Photojournal: Venus
Images and videos of scientific interest.