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The orbit of Venus is 224.7 Earth days (7.4 avg. Earth months [30.4 days]). The phases of Venus result from the planet's orbit around the Sun inside the Earth's orbit giving the telescopic observer a sequence of progressive lighting similar in appearance to the Moon's phases. It presents a full image when it is on the opposite side of the Sun.
The superior planets, orbiting outside the Earth's orbit, do not exhibit a full range of phases since their maximum phase angles are smaller than 90°. Mars often appears significantly gibbous, it has a maximum phase angle of 45°. Jupiter has a maximum phase angle of 11.1° and Saturn of 6°, [1] so their phases are almost always full.
Because its orbit takes it between the Earth and the Sun, Venus as seen from Earth exhibits visible phases in much the same manner as the Earth's Moon. Galileo Galilei observed the phases of Venus in December 1610, an observation which supported Copernicus's then-contentious heliocentric description of the Solar System. [13]
Why full moons in the night sky are worth viewing, how they got their names and other interesting lunar facts. Your guide to full moons for 2024: Supermoons, solstices, equinoxes and more Skip to ...
Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet, has no moons, or at least none that can be detected to a diameter of 1.6 km (1.0 mi). [2] For a very short time in 1974, Mercury was thought to have a moon. Venus also has no moons, [3] though reports of a moon around Venus have circulated since the 17th century.
Today's Venus can be described as hellish: there is almost no water vapor, the carbon dioxide atmosphere is 90 times as thick as that on Earth and temperatures can reach a scorching 864 degrees.
The Venus symbol was also used in Western alchemy representing the element copper (like the symbol of Mercury is also the symbol of the element mercury), [288] [289] and since polished copper has been used for mirrors from antiquity the symbol for Venus has sometimes been called Venus mirror, representing the mirror of the goddess, although ...
The phase curve of Venus [15] compared to Mercury, [1] and the brightness excess of Venus. The relatively flat phase curve of Venus is characteristic of a cloudy planet. [14] In contrast to Mercury where the curve is strongly peaked approaching phase angle zero (full phase) that of Venus is rounded.