The atmosphere of Venus is the very dense layer of gasses surrounding the planet Venus. Venus's atmosphere is composed of 96.5% carbon dioxide and 3.5% nitrogen, with other chemical compounds present only in trace amounts. It is much denser and hotter than that of Earth; the temperature at the surface is 740 K, and the pressure is 93 bar (1,350 psi), roughly the pressure found 900 m (3,000 ft) under water on Earth. The atmosphere of Venus supports decks of opaque clouds of sulfuric acid that cover the entire planet, making optical Earth-based and orbital observation of the surface impossible. Information about surface topography has been obtained exclusively by radar imaging.
1761 drawing by Mikhail Lomonosov in his work on the discovery of atmosphere of Venus
Composite image of the polar vortex of Venus in strong red (red image is an infrared view of hot high clouds and the grey image is an ultra-violet view of lower clouds)
Meridional (north-south) component of the atmospheric circulation in the atmosphere of Venus. Note that the meridional circulation is much lower than the zonal circulation, which transports heat between the day and night sides of the planet
False colour near-infrared (2.3 μm) image of the deep atmosphere of Venus obtained by Galileo, red areas are signatures of the hot surface radiating through the atmosphere relatively unhindered. The dark spots are clouds silhouetted against the very hot lower atmosphere emitting thermal infrared radiation.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is a terrestrial planet and is the closest in mass and size to its orbital neighbour Earth. Venus is notable for having the densest atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, composed mostly of carbon dioxide with a thick, global sulfuric acid cloud cover. At the surface it has a mean temperature of 737 K and a pressure of 92 times that of Earth's at sea level. These extreme conditions compress carbon dioxide into a supercritical state close to Venus's surface.
True colour image of Venus, as captured by MESSENGER. A global layer of bright sulfuric acid clouds permanently obscures the Venusian surface.
Venus to scale among the terrestrial planets of the Solar System, which are arranged by the order of their Inner Solar System orbits outward from the Sun (from left: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)
Surface of Venus as seen by Venera 13.
Radar mosaic of two 65 km (40 mi) wide (and less than 1 km (0.62 mi) high) pancake domes in Venus's Eistla region
