01Size12,742 kmTemp288 K (15 °C)
Earth
Our reference grain of sand.
PlanetCosmos
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NASA / Mariner 10 / Calvin J. Hamilton
Venus Sun Distance from Earth
Venus is roughly 1.25× closer to Earth than Sun.
Picture this
Look at Venus tonight as the brightest star in the sky. Then remember that under those innocent-looking clouds, the air would crush you, cook you, and dissolve what was left in acid, all at once.
If you scale the distance
At closest approach Venus comes within 38 million km of Earth — closer than any other planet. Two-way radio signals take just over four minutes when the timing is right. Yet no human has ever even attempted to fly there.
Venus is almost exactly Earth's diameter, and the second planet from the Sun. From a distance the planet looks placid — wrapped in featureless cream-coloured clouds. But the atmosphere below is the most hostile in the Solar System: 96% carbon dioxide, sulphuric-acid clouds, a surface pressure 92 times Earth's, and a runaway greenhouse effect that keeps the rocks at 465 °C — hot enough to melt lead. No spacecraft has lasted more than two hours on its surface.
Glossary
Did you know?
Venus rotates backwards relative to almost every other planet, and so slowly that a single Venusian day (243 Earth days) is longer than its year (225 Earth days). The Sun there rises in the west and sets in the east.
Last updated 2026-07-05
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Scale
Earth's twin in size — and its opposite in everything else.
Size
12,104 km
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Our reference grain of sand.
Earth's red neighbour — and our best shot at a second home.
The innermost planet — a cratered world of impossible extremes.