On this episode of Our Island Universe: The hotspot of our solar system - Venus.
Shanil Virani, Director of the John C. Wells Planetarium Harrisonburg, VA.
Follow on Twitter as shanilv
Transcript:
What is the hottest planet in the Solar System?
A HOT summer’s day in the Valley is around 100 degrees fahrenheit, but Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is baked to 800 degrees fahrenheit when facing the Sun but its night-time temperatures drop down to as low MINUS 280 degrees fahrenheit. But Venus, the 2nd planet from the Sun, has an AVERAGE surface temperature just shy of 900 degrees fahrenheit, hot enough to melt lead. Venus is definitely the hottest planet in our solar system!
Often called Earth’s twin because of its similar mass, size and internal composition, Venus has a runaway “Greenhouse Effect”. Its thick CO2 atmosphere traps much of the energy it receives from the Sun. In fact, its surface atmospheric pressure is more than 90X that of Earth’s! You would need to dive about a mile below the ocean’s surface to feel the equivalent pressure! One BIG difference between Venus & Earth, however, is that it no longer has any plate tectonic activity. And without plate tectonics to bury carbon deep inside the planet, it was able to build up in the atmosphere. And we as know on our own planet, carbon dioxide is an excellent greenhouse gas, trapping energy received from the Sun.
So the next time you complain about a hot summer’s day here on Earth, remember its about 9 TIMES hotter on Venus all year round!