Venus: The Fiery Furnace of the Solar System

 

Out of all the planets orbiting our sun, Venus is the hottest one, even hotter than Mercury which is closer!  Imagine a super hot oven – that's kind of what Venus's surface is like, reaching up to 471 degrees Celsius (hot enough to melt lead!).

Why is Venus so much hotter than Mercury? It all comes down to the air around the planet, called its atmosphere.  Venus has a super thick atmosphere, like a heavy blanket, made mostly of a gas called carbon dioxide. This gas acts like a trap for the sun's heat.  The sun's rays get through the atmosphere and heat up Venus, but the heat can't escape back out into space because of all that carbon dioxide. This trapped heat keeps building up, making Venus an incredibly hot and unpleasant place to visit!

This whole process is called the greenhouse effect. It's like how a greenhouse keeps plants warm – the glass traps the sun's heat inside.  On Venus, the greenhouse effect has gotten way out of control, making it the hottest planet in our solar system!