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Planets

Characteristics of Venus

Venus, one of the four terrestrial planets, and the planet second from the Sun, is similar to Earth in mass, but differs significantly in its atmosphere because of the heating by the Sun. The heating of Venus's atmosphere has evaporated all of the hydrogen from the atmosphere, completely removing one of the two components of water from the planet.

In this table, the observed values are taken from Yoder (1995).[1] Go to table of characteristics.

Characteristics of Venus

GM

3.248586(34)1020 cm3 s?2

Mass

4.8671027 g

Mean Radius

6.0518(41)108 cm

Surface Gravity

886.992 cm s?2

Escape Velocity

1.03614106 cm s?1

Average Density

5.243 g cm?3

Sidereal Rotation Period

243.0185 d

Obliquity to Orbit

177 18?

Sidereal Orbital Period

224.695434 d

Semimajor Axis

0.72333199 AU

Eccentricity

0.00677323

Planetary Solar Constant

2.6139106 ergs cm?2 s?1

[1] Yoder, Charles F. ?Astrometric and Geodetic Properties of Earth and the Solar System.? In Global Earth Physics: A Handbook of Physical Constants edited by T.J. Ahrens, 1?31. AGU Reference Shelf, No. 1. Washington: American Geophysical Union, 1995.

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