Venus
Syllabification: (Ve·nus)
Pronunciation: /ˈvēnəs/
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Definition of Venus
- 1 Roman Mythology a goddess, worshiped as the goddess of love in classical Rome though apparently a spirit of kitchen gardens in earlier times. Greek equivalent Aphrodite.[Latin]
- 2 Astronomy the second planet from the sun in the solar system, the brightest celestial object after the sun and moon and frequently appearing in the twilight sky as the evening or morning star.
Venus orbits between Mercury and the earth at an average distance of 67.2 million miles (108 million km) from the sun. It is almost equal in size to the earth, with a diameter of 7,521 miles (12,104 km) and shows phases similar to the moon. The planet is completely covered by clouds consisting chiefly of sulfuric acid droplets, and no surface detail can be seen by telescope. There is a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which traps the heat of the sun by the greenhouse effect to produce a surface temperature of 460°C. The planet has no natural satellite
Derivatives
Pronunciation: /vəˈn(y)o͞oSH(ē)ən, -ZHən, -sēən/
adjective & noun