I chose to write my paper on the planet Venus. The article I found on StarDate was from May 3, 2001, titled ABrilliant Venus@. It describes the physical characteristics of the planet and a brief history, which includes the origin of its name. Venus is an incredibly fascinating phenomenon with a plethora of information to be learned from its known facts.
             Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Originally, it was thought that Venus was composed of two separate bodies referred to as the AMorning Star@ and the AEvening Star@ because it is visible at both sunrise and sunset. Venus formed approximately the same time as the Earth from the same nebula or a diffuse mass of interstellar dust and gas. In addition, the mass of Venus is about 81% that of the Earth=s and its diameter is approximately 95% in comparison.
             Interestingly enough however, the planet=s years are shorter than its days. It takes Venus 243 Earth days to make one rotation but only 225 days to complete a revolution around the sun. The planet=s axial tilt is a mere 2.64 degrees whereas the Earth=s is about 23.5. Additionally, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, the exact opposite of what we experience on this planet. Therefore, Venus experiences a reversed rotation called a retrograde rotation, which allows it to revolve from east to west. This may in fact be due to a collision with a large asteroid several years ago.
             The temperature on Venus is much hotter than that of the Earth=s. It is about 482 degrees Celsius. This is due to the composition of its atmosphere, which is made up of mostly carbon dioxide and nitrogen. This mixture produces a greenhouse effect that allows the sun=s rays to enter the atmosphere but is so dense that heat cannot be dispersed into space. It is estimated that this accounts for escalated temperatures 400 degrees beyond normal. Venus has no oceans or any other sources of water. It is believed that this essential nu...