65 Interesting Facts About Venus

Last updated on January 14th, 2024

51. Venus was the first planet ever visited by spacecraft in the history of space exploration. However, it didn’t orbit the planet; the craft just did a flyby in 1962 on its way to the Sun.

52. Venus has been explored by more than 40 space crafts.

53. Venera 3 was the first man-made spacecraft to land on Venus in 1966. 

54. A hole in Venus’ ionosphere (a layer of the atmosphere filled with charged particles) was noticed by Pioneer Venus Orbiter. In this region, no density was experienced. And this region was never sighted before until recently.

55. The spacecraft Magellan reached the orbit of Venus in the second half of the 1990s. It was considered one of the most successful missions to the neighboring planet.

56. It was through the scans of NASA’s Magellan mission that scientists could form an accurate picture of the surface of Venus. Its sole purpose was to map the surface of the planet in three passes before plunging to the surface.

57. With current space travel technology, it will take a spacecraft about 120 days to travel to Venus. You can prepare yourself for a four-month journey to Venus and another four months to return to Earth.

58. Radar can easily pass through the atmosphere of Venus to provide us with a picture of the surface. Geologists think Venus has an abundance of minerals in felsic rocks.

59. NASA has decided to return to Venus to find out why this planet has become the way it is. The next mission, known as DAVINCI, is scheduled to be launched in 2029.

60. Transit – a phenomenon of the passing of Venus across the face of the Sun from the perspective of an observer on Earth happens in pairs, and each pair is separated by at least a hundred years. The first transit was observed in 1631 and 1639 and then it was observed in 1761 and 1769, followed by 1874 and 1882.

61. Pointing your telescope at Venus, you might be surprised that it has phases just like the moon. That happens when the planet is directly between the Sun and the Earth.

62. In 1969, Jimmy Carter, then governor of Georgia, USA, reported that he saw a UFO in the sky. It turned out to be none other than the planet Venus.

63. The day Friday is ruled by Venus.

64. Venus played an interesting and important part in ancient civilization’s mythology, but mostly with romance. Babylonians knew it as Ishtar, and the Greeks knew it as Aphrodite.

65. The giant vortex on the south pole of Venus changes shape at least every day. New studies revealed that it sometimes looks like a giant and other times like the number eight.

Quick facts about Venus