The transit of Venus was first observed in 1032 by the Persian astronomer Avicenna, but Venus has long been known to ancient civilizations as the “morning star” or “evening star”.
He concluded that Venus is closer to the Earth than the Sun.
Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is sometimes called the twin of Earth; however, there are at least as many differences as similarities.
Venus has about the same size, mass, and density as Earth; it is only 24 million miles (40 million km) away from Earth at its closest point; and its orbit is almost as fast as Earth’s.
It is also hundreds of degrees hotter, completely dry, constantly covered by clouds, yet it is brighter than any star in Earth’s sky, except the Sun, and has a crushing atmospheric pressure.
Because of Venus’s cloud cover, we have never seen its surface from Earth, spacecraft and radio telescopes, however, have taken many radar images of the surface.
Perhaps one of the oddest things about Venus is that it rotates backward.
Venus is permanently covered by clouds.
