Venus Facts: Distance, Size, Temperature & Moons
Planet #2 of 9 · 🔥 Fire-dominant (scorching surface conditions)
A runaway greenhouse world wrapped in thick toxic clouds — the hottest planet in the solar system despite not being closest to the Sun.
View Venus in the interactive 3D Solar System →How far is Venus from Earth?
Venus is 38 – 261 million km (closest planet to Earth on average) from Earth. This is a range rather than a fixed number because both Earth and Venus are constantly moving along their own orbits around the Sun, so the distance between them is always changing. Venus orbits at an average distance of 0.72 AU (108.2 million km) from the Sun, compared to Earth's 1 AU (149.6 million km).
Key facts about Venus
Diameter
12,104 km
Temperature
~465 (surface, constant) °C
Day length
243 days (retrograde)
Year length
225 days
Moons
0
Gravity
8.87 m/s² (0.91× Earth)
Escape velocity
10.36 km/s
Orbital eccentricity
0.007 (most circular orbit of any planet)
Composition
Rocky, thick basaltic crust
Atmosphere
96.5% CO2, dense sulfuric acid clouds
Did you know?
✨ Venus spins backwards (retrograde) compared to most planets, so the Sun rises in the west.