Named after the Roman godess of love and beauty, Venus is the second planet from the sun and orbits with an average radius of approximately 0.723 AU (or 108 million km) with a very low eccentricity to the orbit of 0.0067.

Due to it’s closer proximity to the sun the Venusian year is correspondingly shorter at 224.7 Earth days

While similar in size to Earth and being a terrestrial (rocky) planet, Venus is vastly different due to the dense atmosphere comprised mostly of Carbon Dioxide (96%). This atmospheric composition also leads to significant greenhouse effects making Venus hotter than Mercury, despite being further from the Sun, with a mean temperature of 735K).

All that is visible from Earth is the tops of the dense atmosphere and the highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid. Due due to its position closer to the sun, it has a maximum angular seperation (elongation) from the sun of 47.8 degrees, therefore when visible it is either in the evening or dawn sky and Venus displays phases similar to that of the Moon.