The planets of our solar system: Venus

Staring at the night sky there are 5 planets you can see without a telescope. You might not be aware of them, as they are hard to distinguish from the countless stars up there. Apart from the Moon, they all look pretty much the same. But besides Mercury, you can also see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. Today we will talk about Venus, the female planet.

In our solar system Venus is the planet that most resembles Earth. With a diameter of 12104 kilometer it is only 600 km smaller than our own planet. That’s why we refer to Venus as Earth’s sister planet. A day on Venus lasts for 117 days on Earth, and a year is equivalent to 225 Earth days. Even though Venus is considered the female planet, she is thought to have a heart of stone. The core is made of rock and iron. After the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in our night sky.

Venus, our sister planet

Although nobody has ever visited Venus physically, we are quite certain there is no life on the planet. You’ll need to be quite heat resistant though to live on Venus as it can get up to 471 degrees Celsius. This makes Venus the warmest place in our solar system, besides the Sun itself obviously. Even if you are capable of surviving these temperatures, Venus would still be very hostile. The pressure is 92 times stronger than on Earth. You’d need really strong legs to be able to stay standing on Venus.

Venus is a bit of an oddball. It turns the other way compared to the rest of the planets. This retrograde rotation, as it is called, is likely caused by a collision with some huge object. It’s unclear what this object is, as Venus has no moons in its orbit.
Venus was named after the Roman goddess with the same name. She was the goddess of love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, and prosperity. She embodied female charm, and that is why it is said that women come from Venus and men from Mars (the god of war). Funnily enough, Venus was married to Mars.

For a long time, the Romans thought that Venus was 2 different planets. When the orbit of Venus takes over the orbit of Earth, it appears before sunrise. When the orbit order changes again, Venus is visible after sunset. When the Romans made star maps, they named Venus both Morning Star as well as Evening Star.

Venus in astrology

In astrology, Venus is in charge of Libra and Taurus. Because of this, Venus represents love (can’t be a surprise) and money. To be more specific, Venus rules our sentiments and our values. When checking our birth chart, Venus shows how we engage in relationships.
Venus also determines our spending behaviour. Do we like to save money, or are we happier with spending money on fun things?

When Venus is prominent in our horoscope we tend to appreciate the more beautiful things in life. The fine arts, the taking care of oneself, the caring for others. All of this is attributed to Venus. So whenever Venus is present in our zodiac sign, we tend to have a better time.