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The Planets.
A planet is a natural satellite of a star.
There are nine planets in our solar system.
All of the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun.
The planets themselves do not give out light.
We can see some of the planets in the night sky
because they reflect sunlight (like our moon does).
The planets are so far away that they appear to us like dots of
light.
They look to our eyes like stars.
The orbit of a planet is almost circular.
All of the planets (except Mercury and Pluto) orbit in the same
plane.
The picture below shows the solar system.
The relative size of the planets is indicated
but the Sun is very much larger than shown.
Click on a planet for more information.
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enus means:
In astronomy mythology, enus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty.In Greek her name
was Aphrodite.
jow much would you weigh on enus?
Because enus and the Earth are almost the exact same size, you would weigh almost exactly
the same on either planet. If you weighed 70 pounds on Earth you would weigh 63 pounds on
enus.

The Planet:
The planet enus has long been one of the most misunderstood of all the inner planets. Like the
Earth, enus has an atmosphere. jowever, this atmosphere is far thicker than that of the Earth,
making it difficult for modern science to penetrate.

Because we cannot see the surface of the planet enus visually, there is much we still do not
know about how this planet looks, and what it is like. jowever, using special instruments and
probes scientists have in recent years unlocked many of the secrets long hidden by this
mysterious world.

The Earth jas A Sister

enus is in many ways Earth's sister planet. It is almost identical in size, and chemistry as the
Earth. In other words enus is made up of almost the exact same types of materials as the Earth,
in about the same amounts.

jowever if they are twins, then enus is the evil twin, she is the Earth gone wrong, very wrong.
enus is a deadly world, where the surface temperature is hot enough to cook a meal in mere
minutes. There is no where to hide from this ever present furnace.

Global Warming
In the early days of enus' 4 billion year long life, it would have appeared very similar to the
Earth. The two would have been almost identical. jowever over a period of a few million years
forces on enus caused it to take a very different course than the Earth.

enus lies much closer to the Sun than does our planet. That single fact has caused an
unstoppable chain of events that doomed enus to its fiery existence. Owing to its closer
proximity to the Sun, enus' temperature should have been only slightly warmer than that of the
Earth.

As the planet warmed, water which formed oceans, lakes, and rivers on the Earth, evaporated.
This increase in water vapor began a cycle of global warming that could not be stopped. Water
vapor is a very effective greenhouse gas. The increase in water vapor caused the temperature to
rise further, which caused more water to evaporate, causing the temperature to climb still further.

Today it is likely that all of enus' water has evaporated, into the atmosphere. This atmosphere
effectively traps the Sun's energy causing the surface to burn much hotter than it naturally would.

enus Is Dry
The Earth has a protective layer known as the Ozone Layer. This important shield protects the
Earth from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. enus does not have an ozone layer. As a result the
ultraviolet radiation from the Sun finds its way directly into enus' atmosphere. Over many
billions of years this radiation has slowly broken down water molocules into hydrogen and
oxygen. As a result there is today very little water left on enus.

jow Does enus Cool?

Like the planet Earth, enus also has a liquid molten core. As the planet ages, this core slowly
cools. On Earth this cooling takes the form of volcanic and tectonic activity. On the Earth, there
are always hot spots somewhere, where heat can escape allowing the core to become more cool.

enus does not cool itself in the same way. Instead many scientists believe that every so often
much of the surface of enus actually melts, letting of great amounts of heat as it cools. It is not
clear why to similar planets would cool is such different ways, however it is believed that the
oceans on Earth play a key role in helping promote volcanic and tectonic cooling.

From West To East

If you somehow found a way to survive the scorching heat found on the surface of enus, you
would quickly notice something strange about the days. Aside from the fact that enus rotates
very slowly, so that a day on enus actually lasts longer than a year, enus also rotates in the
opposite direction as almost all the other planets.

Instead of the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west, the Sun on enus would appear to
rise in the West, and set in the East.

Moons:
enus has no moons.

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Earth means:
In astronomy mythology, jer Greek name was Gaea. Earth was the mother of the mountains,
valleys, streams and all other land formations. She was married to Uranus.

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Jupiter means:
Jupiter known as Zeus in Greece over threw his father Saturn to become king of the gods. je
then split the Universe with his brothers Neptune and Pluto.

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Pluto means:
Pluto was thought to be the god to whom all men must eventually go. Romans believed him to be
the god of the underworld. jis name in Greece was jades.

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This image was acquired from NASA's Skylab space station on December 19, 1973. It shows
one of the most spectacular solar flares ever recorded, propelled by magnetic forces, lifting off
from the Sun. It spans more than 588,000 km (365,000 miles) of the solar surface. In this
photograph, the solar poles are distinguished by a relative absence of supergranulation network,
and a much darker tone than the central portions of the disk. 




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Astronomers refer to enus as Earth's sister planet. Both are similar in size, mass, density and
volume. Both formed about the same time and condensed out of the same nebula. jowever,
during the last few years scientists have found that the kinship ends here. enus is very different
from the Earth. It has no oceans and is surrounded by a heavy atmosphere composed mainly of
carbon dioxide with virtually no water vapor. Its clouds are composed of sulfuric acid droplets.
At the surface, the atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of the Earth's at sea-level.

From the perspective we get on Earth, our planet appears to be big and sturdy with an endless
ocean of air. From space, astronauts often get the impression that the Earth is small with a thin,
fragile layer of atmosphere. For a space traveler, the distinguishing Earth features are the blue
waters, brown and green land masses and white clouds set against a black background.

Many dream of traveling in space and viewing the wonders of the universe. In reality all of us
are space travelers. Our spaceship is the planet Earth, traveling at the speed of 108,000
kilometers (67,000 miles) an hour.

Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun at a distance of about 150 million kilometers (93.2 million
miles). It takes 365.256 days for the Earth to travel around the Sun and 23.9345 hours for the
Earth rotate a complete revolution. It has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers (7,973 miles), only a
few hundred kilometers larger than that of enus. Our atmosphere is composed of 78 percent
nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other constituents.

Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to harbor life. Our planet's rapid spin and
molten nickel-iron core give rise to an extensive magnetic field, which, along with the
atmosphere, shields us from nearly all of the harmful radiation coming from the Sun and other
stars. Earth's atmosphere protects us from meteors, most of which burn up before they can strike
the surface.

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