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Astronomy

Planets

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the sun (however you define planet), and is sometimes thought of as Earth's twin, since it's nearly the same size, mass and composition as the Earth, although it has no moon. Venus is also thought of as an object lesson for the Earth as to what can happen when the greenhouse effect runs away. This will happen to us eventually, as the sun continues to warm, but not for a while yet (at least not to the point where the planet is utterly uninhabitable). Venus does, however, provide another case study, both for the greenhouse effect, as well as plate tectonics (or maybe some alternative geological scheme).

The proper adjective for describing things about Venus is "Venerean" or "Veneran" if you use the correct Latin form. (Recall, the Venera spacecraft?) However, scientists being sex-obsessed little boys thought that sounded too much like "venereal" and we can't have that, so they replaced it with the ugly (and linguistically incorrect) "Venutian" or "Venusian". I stick with the correct adjective because I don't think about sex every seven seconds.

In ancient times, Venus, as the morning star, was also referred to in Latin as Lucifer, which means "bearer of light", since it rose before the sun.

Links:

Venus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Venus (mythology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NASA - Venus

Venus Introduction

Solar System Exploration: Planets: Venus

NSSDC Photo Gallery: Venus

Planet Venus

Image Results for Venus

Venus, Planet Venus

Venus (NinePlanets.org)