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Venus "overtakes" Earth every 584 days as it orbits the Sun. [4] As it does so, it changes from the "Evening Star", visible after sunset, to the "Morning Star", visible before sunrise. Although Mercury, the other inferior planet, reaches a maximum elongation of only 28° and is often difficult to discern in twilight, Venus is hard to miss when ...
The Norse name for the planet Venus was Friggjarstjarna, 'Frigg's star'. [21] It is based on the Latin diēs Veneris, "Day of Venus". Saturday: named after the Roman god Saturn associated with the Titan Cronus, father of Zeus and many Olympians.
Planetary nomenclature. Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is a system of uniquely identifying features on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the features can be easily located, described, and discussed. [1] Since the invention of the telescope, astronomers have given names to the surface features they have ...
Historical models of the Solar System. Approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Outward from the Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jupiter's diameter is about 11 times that of the Earth's and the Sun's diameter is about 10 times Jupiter's.
Astronomical naming conventions. In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few stars, and the most easily visible planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered every year. Astronomers need to be able to assign systematic ...
A classical planet is an astronomical object that is visible to the naked eye and moves across the sky and its backdrop of fixed stars (the common stars which seem still in contrast to the planets). Visible to humans on Earth there are seven classical planets (the seven luminaries). They are from brightest to dimmest: the Sun, the Moon, Venus ...
The hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990–1994 Magellan mission, is centered at 180 degrees east longitude. The geology of Venus is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Venus. Within the Solar System, it is the one nearest to Earth and ...
It provides the first detailed maps of the Martian surface, [189] discovering much of the planet's topography, including the volcano Olympus Mons and the canyon system Valles Marineris, which is named in its honor. 1971 – Mars 3 lands on Mars, and transmits the first partial image from the surface of another planet. [190]