2.

Venus can be so bright it casts shadows

Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in the night sky by their
magnitude. Only the Sun and the Moon are brighter than Venus. Its
brightness can range between -3.8 to -4.6 magnitude, but its always
brighter than the brightest stars in the sky.
It can be so bright that it actually casts shadows. Find a dark night, when
the Moon isnt in the sky, and check it out for yourself.

3. Many probes have landed on the surface of Venus

For such a hellish world, you would think that it would be impossible to
land anything on its surface. And youre partly right. During the height of
the space race, the Soviet Union launched a series of Venera spacecraft to
attempt landings on the surface of Venus. But they underestimated just
how nasty the atmosphere can be.
The early spacecraft were crushed as they passed down through the
atmosphere. But finally Venera 8 was the first spacecraft to land on the
surface of Venus and sent pictures back to Earth. Further missions lasted
longer, and even returned the first color images of the surface of Venus.
4. People used to think Venus was tropical
Until the Americans and Soviets sent their first spacecraft to study Venus
up close, nobody really knew what was down under the planets thick
clouds. Science fiction writers dreamed up lush tropical

5. Venus has no moons

Once again, Venus looks less and less like our twin. Unlike the Earth,
Venus has no moons. Mars has moons, and even Pluto has moons. But
Venus no moons.

6. Venus has phases

Although Venus just looks like a really bright star in the sky, if you can see
it with a telescope, youll see something much different. When looking
through a telescope, you can see that Venus goes through phases, like the
Moon. When Venus is closest, at its brightest, it actually makes a thin
crescent. And then, when Venus is dimmest and furthest away, you see
more of a circle.

7. The surface of Venus has few impact craters

While the surface of Mercury, Mars and the Moon are pounded with impact
craters, the surface of Venus has relatively few craters. Planetary
scientists estimate that the surface of Venus is only half a billion years old.
The constant volcanism reshapes the surface, covering over any impact
craters regularly.
8. Theres a spacecraft there right now.
Many spacecraft have traveled to Venus, but one of the most
sophisticated is there right now: Venus Express. The mission was sent by
the European Space Agency, and arrived at Venus on April 11, 2006. It will
perform a detailed study of the Venusian atmosphere and clouds and will
map the planets plasma environment and its surface.
There you go, I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about Venus.

9. Where is Venus
Venuses distance from the sun is about 108 million kilometers from the
sun.

10. Venuses atmosphere

Venus is hot because it has a thick layer of clouds and not much sunlight
reaches its surface so it doesnt look too bright in photos.

U
R
A

1. Uranus can be Pronounced Two Different Ways.

Most commonly the word Uranus is pronounced rns (said like "your anus", emphasis placed
on the second syllable) which always seems to get a giggle. For this reason, most in academia
have taken to pronouncing it rns (said like "urine iss", emphasis on the first syllable). Either
way is acceptable, but when around children, or those that act like children, the latter
pronunciation is a safer bet.

2. Uranus is the 4th most massive planet in our solar system.

With a mass of approximately 8.6810 1025 kg (about 14.5 Earths), the planet Uranus lags behind
Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in terms of mass.

3. Uranus is the 3rd largest planet in our solar system.

At 25,559 4 km (about 4 Earth Radii), Uranus is larger than every planet except Jupiter and
Saturn. However, since it is less massive than Neptune, it is not very dense; trailing all other
planets except Saturn in terms of density.

4. Uranus actually has rings, though they are hard to see.

The rings of Saturn are well known. But as it happens, all of the Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune) have rings. However, they are generally very difficult to see and require
specialized instruments to study. They are generally made from small pieces of ice, rock and dust
that are held in orbit by the planet's immense gravity.

5. Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun.

Despite efforts from some to get Ceres, effectively a large spheroidal asteroid between Mars and
Jupiter, classified as a planet, the number of planets in our solar system is static. So after Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun.

6. Uranus has at least 27 moons.

All of the Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) have large numbers of moons.
Some of them are very small, asteroid sized objects that are difficult to detect. So the exact
number of moons is unknown, but at this time 27 are known to exist.

7. Uranus was named for the Greek God of the sky.

Though many names were suggested for the planet, including Herschel after its discoverer, the
logical choice of Uranus was chosen. The reason being, that Saturn is the name for the father of
Jupiter, so it makes sense that the next planet out should be the father of Saturn, which is Uranus.

8. While known about for centuries, Uranus was thought to be a star until 1781.
Because Uranus is so far from Earth, it doesn't move very quickly in the night sky. Therefore many
early astronomers thought that it was a star. Even later observers, including its "discoverer"
William Herschel thought it might be a comet instead. However, it was later correctly determined
by Herschel and others in 1781 to be a planet.

10. Uranus nearly "rolls" along its orbit.

With a axis tilt of about 97.7 degrees, Uranus rolls on its side as it orbits around the Sun. This is
highly unusual, and only one other planetary-like object, Pluto, is known to rotate in this manner.

1. Neptune is a
hydrogen,
ammonia and

2. The only
Voyager 2 in

3. Neptune
any other
Neptune can
miles/hour).
around

4. The blue
absorption of
atmosphere.

N
E
P

gaseous planet, composed of

helium, methane, with traces of
water.

spacecraft ever to visit Neptune was

1989.

has strong winds which is more than

planet in the Solar System. Winds on
get up to 2,000 km/hour (1,200
The Scooter is a cloud that moves
Neptune about every 16 hours.

color of the planet is due to the

red light by methane in the

5. One Neptune year is equal to 164.83 Earth Years.

6. Neptune has 13 moons, the largest of which is named Triton. The other moons
are: Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Nereid, Halimede, Sao,
Laomedeia, Neso, and Psamathe.

7. Neptune has five main rings, they are named after the people who had been
doing work on the planet; the rings are: Halle, Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago, and
Adams.

8. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun because astronomers believe that
pluto was a chnck of Neptune.

9. Neptune was the very first planet to be located using mathematics rather than
observation.

20. In 1898 Voyager 2 conducted a flyby of Neptune and confirmed the presence
of a magnetic field around the planet. It also found that the field was tilted like
Uranus. Voyager 2 also discovered six new moons that orbit Neptune and that
the planet has more than one ring.

1. Venus really is the Earths twin.

Well, perhaps you could consider it the Earths evil twin. Earth and Venus have
very similar size and mass, and they orbit the Sun close to the Sun in very similar
orbits. The size of Venus is only 650 km less than the size of Earth, and the mass
of Venus is 81.5% the mass of the Earth.

V
E
N
U
S

But thats where the similarities end. The atmosphere of Venus is 96.5%
carbon dioxide, with a runaway greenhouse effect that raises
temperatures to 461 C. The intense pressure would crush you if you
tried to walk on the surface of the planet.