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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.
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.
To an observer on the surface of Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east, [155] although Venus's opaque clouds prevent observing the Sun from the planet's surface. [156] Venus may have formed from the solar nebula with a different rotation period and obliquity, reaching its current state because of chaotic spin changes caused ...
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). The surface of Venus is covered by a dense atmosphere and presents clear evidence of former violent volcanic activity.
The surface of Venus is comparatively very flat. When 93% of the topography was mapped by Pioneer Venus, [15] scientists found that the total distance from the lowest point to the highest point on the entire surface was about 13 kilometres (8 mi), while on the Earth the distance from the basins to the Himalayas is about
(The Sun's diameter is 400 times as large and its distance also; the Sun is 200,000 to 500,000 times as bright as the full Moon (figures vary), corresponding to an angular diameter ratio of 450 to 700, so a celestial body with a diameter of 2.5–4″ and the same brightness per unit solid angle would have the same brightness as the full Moon.)
At the subsolar point the bow shock stands 1900 km (0.3 R v, where R v is the radius of Venus) above the surface of Venus. This distance was measured in 2007 near the solar activity minimum. [47] Near the solar activity maximum it can be several times further from the planet. [46]
Locating volcanoes on Venus became possible during the Magellan mission in 1990, which mapped over 95% of the surface of Venus. [32] The surface of Venus is hidden by clouds but surface features can be mapped using synthetic aperture radar. [33] Some images created by this mapping can give a perspective view of the elevation of the surface of ...