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Venus Venus, symbol {female} in astronomy, is the second planet from the Sun and the planet whose orbit is closest to that of the Earth. When visible, Venus is the brightest planet in the sky. Viewed through a telescope, it presents a brilliant, yellow-white, essentially featureless face to the observer. The obscured appearance results because the surface of the planet is hidden from sight by a continuous and permanent cover of clouds. Features in the clouds are difficult to discern and become evident only when the planet is viewed in ultraviolet light (Figure 6). When observed at ultraviolet wavelengths, the clouds of Venus exhibit distinctive dark markings, with complex swirling patterns near the equator and global-scale bright and dark bands that are V-shaped and open to the west. Venus mean distance from the Sun is 108 million kilometres. Its distance from the Earth varies from a minimum of about 42 million kilometres to a maximum of about 257 million kilometres. PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS Venus orbit is the most nearly circular of that of any planet, with a deviation from perfect circularity of only about 1 part in 150. The period of the orbit--that is, the length of the Venusian year--is 224.7 Earth days. The rotation of Venus is unusual in both its direction and speed. Most of the planets in the solar system rotate in a counterclockwise direction when viewed from above their north poles; Venus, however, rotates in the opposite, or retrograde, direction. Were it not for the planets clouds, an observer on Venus surface would see the Sun rise in the west and set in the east. Venus spins on its axis very slowly, taking 243 Earth days to complete one rotation. Venus spin and orbital periods are synchronized with the Earths orbit such that Venus always presents the same face toward the Earth when the two planets are at their closest approach. The reasons for this are poorly understood but must have to do with the gravitational influence exerted on Venus by