Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the sixth largest. Scientists sometimes call it the morning or evening star. It has an extremely slow rotation, meaning its year is actually shorter than its day; one day on Venus is equivalent to approximately two hundred and forty-three Earth days, while one year is equivalent to two hundred and twenty-five Earth days (exploration). The distance from the sun is 67,232,400 miles (Distance), being so close to the sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, the average temperature is 864 degrees Fahrenheit but can reach over 900 degrees, which is hot enough to dissolve lead (Coffey). The size of Venus is very similar to that of Earth, just a little smaller (Coffey…Size). The color of Venus is actually a bright white, most of the yellow-orange images you see are false color images used to show surface features (Cain). naked eye”, as it is the second brightest object in the sky (Discovery). So there is no actual date for its discovery. In 1610 Galileo was the first to observe Venus, but the ancients most likely knew it was there because it is the first “star” you see before sunset and the last “star” you see before sunrise (Galileo). It is one of the most explored planets besides Earth. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. It is the only planet named after a woman (Choi). Scientists believe that Venus formed in the same way and at the same time as Earth and might have looked like Earth but because it is so close to the sun the water would have evaporated (Oxlade, 15). The atmosphere of Venus is made up of carbon dioxide and thick...... middle of paper......Geology, the environment and the universe.Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Co.,Inc., 2013.Solar System Exploration-Planets. March 6, 2014. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov> March 25, 2014. The planets and their moons. 2013. . March 25, 2014Venus, Earth's twin planet. 14 March 2014. space/solar-system/article-venus/>. March 25, 2014Facts about Venus. 2014. . March 26, 2014 Oxlade, Chris. Mercury, Mars and the other inner planets. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2008. Size of Venus. December 19, 2008. March 27, 2014. How big is Venus?. November 16, 2012. March 27, 2014 The color of Venus. May 16, 2008. March 27 2014.