Venus is a gorgeous naked-eye planet, hanging like a diamond in the twilight -- but its beauty is best looked at from afar. Even though Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, due to a runaway greenhouse effect, and has the most volcanic activity in the solar system. Its north and south poles were flipped, causing it to rotate backward and making for very strange days on this beautiful but inhospitable world.

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Chapters:
Introduction: Venus 00:00
Venus's Phases 0:55
Transit of Venus 1:31
Venus's Atmosphere 3:06
How did Venus get so hot? 4:13
Venus's Slow Rotation & Retrograde Motion 6:02
Venus's Spherical Structure 7:09
Venus's Surface 7:48
Volcanic Activity on Venus 8:31
Review 10:04
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PHOTOS/VIDEOS
Naked-eye Venus photo taken by Phil Plait
Phases of Venus http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil... [credit: Wikimedia Commons]
2012 Venus Transit    • Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Ve...   [credit: NASA]
Black drop effect in 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dr... [credit: Vesta]
Venus Transit http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/65... [credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin]
Venus in real colors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#me... [credit: NASA]
Earth http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php... [credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Image by Reto Stöckli]
Venus http://www.msss.com/images/science/ve... [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Magellan Project]
Atmospheric Drag on Venus    • Atmospheric Drag on Venus   [credit: NASA]
Lakshmi Planum and Maxwell Montes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_sn... [credit: NASA/JPL]
Artist's impression of the surface of Venus http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/im... [credit: ESA]
Venera Images http://planetimages.blogspot.com/ [credit: Ted Stryk]
Venus Globe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#me... [credit: NASA]
Impact craters on the surface of Venus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#me... [credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Idunn Mons http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figu... [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA]
Pancake Volcanoes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake_... [credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory]