Venus is the second planet in the solar system after Mercury. Its orbit around the Sun is the most circular of all the planets. After the Sun and Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky and has often been referred to as the "evening star" or "morning star" throughout history.
Since Venus is relatively close to the Sun, phases of Venus, similar to the phases of the Moon, can be observed from Earth. These were already recognised by Galileo Galilei and were an important clue for the heliocentric world view developed by Copernicus.
For a long time, it was believed that Venus was a kind of sister planet to Earth, which is true in some respects: Venus is only slightly smaller than Earth (95% of Earth's diameter). Venus and Earth have very few impact craters, which indicates a relatively young crust. In addition, the chemical composition of both planets is similar.
Life was therefore even suspected to exist beneath the dense clouds of Venus. However, more recent scientific data has proven that Venus has an atmosphere that is hostile to life. The pressure on the surface is 90 atm, which is roughly equivalent to the pressure at a depth of 1 km in the ocean.
The clouds, which are several kilometres thick, consist of sulphuric acid, and the dense atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect that causes temperatures to rise to almost 500 °C. Wind speeds reach up to 350 km/h. Unlike Earth, Venus has no magnetic field, and no moon is known to exist.
This poster shows everything important about our neighbouring planet, including Venusian landscapes modelled on the basis of radar data from NASA.
200g paper, lightfast, matt lacquer coating
