Venus

Venus, second planet from the sun, is the brightest planet in our solar system.

Related Topics: Mercury, Earth, Mars 

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Artist's illustration of the surface of Venus. A yellow-hued image has a barren surface with small rocks in the foreground and a thick hazy atmosphere above.

Planet Venus: 20 interesting facts about the scorching world

By Lee Cavendish published

Reference Venus is one of the weirdest planets in the solar system. We explore the scorching planet in more detail with 20 interesting facts about Venus.

The sun-observing Solar Orbiter spacecraft makes regular flybys at Venus, taking measurements of the planet's magnetic field as a side project.

European sun probe sees carbon dioxide escaping Venus' atmosphere

By Tereza Pultarova published

Solar Orbiter's measurements of the environment around Venus might help explain how the scorched planet's atmosphere changes over millions of years.

A giant coronal mass ejection burst from the sun toward Venus on Monday (Sept. 5)

2nd huge eruption from the sun hammers Venus

By Tereza Pultarova published

Venus is being hammered by wild space weather this week after a giant sunspot, not visible from Earth, expelled an enormous plasma burst toward the scorching-hot planet.

An illustration of diamond rain inside an ice giant planet.

Diamond rains could fall through the interior of ice giant planets

By Robert Lea published

The interiors of the solar system's ice giants, Neptune and Uranus, could experience an exotic form of precipitation, and these 'diamond rains' could be more common than previously thought.

Venus, as seen here by the Magellan spacecraft and the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, will be in conjunction with the faint star Regulus on Labor Day, September 5, 2022.

See Venus pair up with Regulus on Monday (Sept. 5)

By Robert Lea published

The brightest planet in the night sky, Venus, will appear by the brightest star of the constellation Leo, Regulus , on and around Labor Day (Sept. 5).

The sun-observing Solar Orbiter spacecraft makes regular flybys at Venus, taking measurements of the planet's magnetic field as a side project.

Solar Orbiter to look at Venus' magnetic field as it swings by the planet

By Tereza Pultarova published

The sun-studying Solar Orbiter spacecraft will swing by Venus on Saturday (Sept. 3) and gather bonus observations of our neighbor planet's mysterious magnetic field.

Woman and child viewing night sky with a telescope.

The brightest planets in September's night sky: How to see them (and when)

By Joe Rao published

Reference Our viewing guide tells you which planets are visible in September's night sky and how you can see them.

An illustration of the night sky on Aug. 25, 2022.

See the old moon and Venus conjunction tonight

By Samantha Mathewson published

A close encounter, or conjunction, between August's waning crescent moon and Venus occurs tonight when the two objects share the same right ascension.

An illustration of the night sky on Aug. 25 including Venus in close proximity to the moon.

The moon and Venus will make one last morning dance on Thursday (Aug. 25)

By Joe Rao published

On Thursday Aug. 25 we will have an opportunity to catch sight of the two brightest objects in the night sky, Venus and the moon, engaged in a final morning dance.

Rocket Lab plans to launch a private mission to probe Venus' clouds.

Rocket Lab planning to launch private Venus mission in May 2023

By Leonard David published

Rocket Lab aims to send a probe to Venus soon, and a new paper lays out the details of the ambitious mission.

The day side of Venus covered in clouds as seen by Akatsuki

A mystery of sulfur clouds of Venus may be solved by new computer model

By Andrew Jones published

Scientists using new computational methods have come up with a new insight into the potential workings of the complex atmosphere of Venus.

ESA's next Venus orbiter was announced on June 12, 2021. ESA hopes to launch EnVision to Venus in the early 2030s.

Europe's new Venus probe will have to survive months-long scorching 'aerobrake' procedure

By Tereza Pultarova published

Europe's planned Venus exploration mission will depend on a challenging aerobraking procedure to lower its orbit, which will test the thermal resiliency of its materials to the limits.

venus surface

China's proposed Venus mission would investigate the planet's atmosphere and geology

By Andrew Jones published

If selected, a proposed Chinese mission to Venus could launch in 2026 and arrive at the scorching planet in 2027.

A view of 5 planets aligned in the morning sky with labels.

You can watch the rare 5-planet alignment in a live webcast for free today

By Elizabeth Howell published

You can watch the five naked-eye planets align for free on a livestream that will be running Sunday (June 26).

Graphic showing Venus close to the slim crescent moon in the predawn sky.

Don't miss Venus meet the moon before dawn on Sunday in gorgeous photo opportunity

By Daisy Dobrijevic published

A gorgeous photo opportunity will greet skywatchers on Sunday (June 26) when the slim crescent moon meets Venus in the early morning sky.

Wright Dobbs took this image of the five naked-eye planets from St. Cloud, Florida on June 24, 2022.

See the rare alignment of 5 planets and the moon in this stunning night sky photo

By Elizabeth Howell published

The rare sight of five bright planets lining up with the moon wowed skywatchers around the world Friday and you can still see it this weekend.

sky diagram of moon and venus

Venus and the crescent moon get together in dazzling dance early Sunday

By Joe Rao published

Get up early Sunday to see a celestial rendezvous between the two brightest objects in the night sky: Venus and the moon.

Graphic showing a line of planets and the moon across the predawn sky.

Rare alignment of 5 planets peaks Friday as crescent moon joins the parade

By Daisy Dobrijevic published

A rare planetary alignment will peak predawn on Friday (June 24) when the crescent moon joins the party. An alignment like this will not occur again until 2040.

sky map of five planets

Rare 5-planet alignment comes into better view this week. Here's what to expect.

By Joe Rao published

A rare parade of planets is coming into better view in the second half of June, and even the moon will join the show.

A false-colour image of cloud features seen on Venus by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on the European Space Agency's Venus Express probe captured on 8 December 2011.

Missing microbial poop in Venus' clouds suggests the planet has no life

By Tereza Pultarova published

The odd chemical composition of Venusian clouds cannot be explained by extraterrestrial life, as the atmosphere bears no signs of alien pooping and eating, a new study found.