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Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is classified as a terrestrial planet.It is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" due to their similar size, gravity, and bulk composition (Venus is both the closest planet to Earth and the planet closest in size to Earth).
This is a list of montes (mountains, singular mons) on the planet Venus. Venusian mountains are all named after goddesses in the mythologies of various cultures, except for the Maxwell Montes. The four main mountain ranges of Venus are named Akna Montes, Danu Montes, Freyja Montes, and Maxwell Montes. These are found on Ishtar Terra.
The surface of Venus is dominated by geologic features that include volcanoes, large impact craters, and aeolian erosion and sedimentation landforms. Venus has a topography reflecting its single, strong crustal plate, with a unimodal elevation distribution (over 90% of the surface lies within an elevation of -1.0 and 2.5 km) [1] that preserves geologic structures for long periods of time.
Topographic radar image view of Venus, with Ishtar Terra near center. Ishtar Terra / ˈ ɪ ʃ t ɑːr ˈ t ɛr ə / [1] is the second largest of the three continental terrae regions on the planet Venus, the others being Aphrodite Terra and Lada Terra. It is a highland region named after the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, [2] and is found in the north ...
The surface of Venus is comparatively flat. When 93% of the topography was mapped by Pioneer Venus Orbiter, scientists found that the total distance from the lowest point to the highest point on the entire surface was about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), about the same as the vertical distance between the Earth's ocean floor and the higher summits of the Himalayas.
The English name of Venus was originally the ancient Roman name for it. Romans named Venus after their goddess of love, who in turn was based on the ancient Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, [275] who was herself based on the similar Sumerian religion goddess Inanna (which is Ishtar in Akkadian religion), all of whom were associated with the planet.
Maxwell Montes is named for James Clerk Maxwell whose work in mathematical physics predicted the existence of radio waves, which made radar, and thus the surface observations of Venus, possible. [9] Maxwell Montes, Alpha Regio , and Beta Regio are the three exceptions to the rule that the surface features of Venus are to be named for females .
These features can be named after places associated with Io mythology, derived from nearby named features, or places from Dante's Inferno: Paterae Paterae on Io are named after fire, sun, thunder or volcano gods, heroes or goddesses or mythical blacksmiths. Valles Names of valleys are derived from nearby named features.