Venus

Venus is the second planet in the Solar System. It is Earth's sister planet.

Venus is hell. Although the planet is named after the Roman Goddess of Beauty, it is a smeltering world with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead, caused by a runaway greenhouse effect in an atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide. It rains sulphuric acid. Nice place.

Venus is part of Earth's solar system, and can be spotted from Earth's surface with the naked eye.

Beast Wars
"What're you looking at?

That star. Well, planet, actually. Venus. It reminds me of you.

You mean hot, poisonous, and deadly? Aww, you're sweet."

Silverbolt, ever the romantic, compares his lady love to Venus. How accurate.

Sailor Moon
Venus (金星; Star of Gold/Metal) is the second planet from the Sun in this Solar System and, apart from the Earth's moon, is the brightest object in the night sky.

In the Sailor Moon series, Venus was protected by Sailor Venus, even though in the present she resided on Earth with the other Sailor Senshi of the system.

In the manga, Magellan Castle orbited Venus, and was the palace of Princess Venus. In the Sailor V manga, Magellan Castle was said to float over the land of Aphrodite, named after a goddess of love in Western mythology.

Exosquad
Venus is the second largest planet of the terrestrial planets, or Homeworlds, and the first planet to be terraformed and inhabited by humans. Though Venus itself is considered a Homeworld Colony, it is autonomous and independent. Its population is smaller than Earth's, comprised almost entirely of middle class farmers along with some military families, a small Neosapien population, and a small aristocracy made up of politicians, corporate terraformers, agronomists, and others from the science community. The capital of Venus is Vesta, named after the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology, and is the interplanetary hub of Venus with its massive spaceport and city.

In terms of the Solar System; it does fall under the jurisdiction of the Homeworld Congress and furthermore is protected by the Homeworld Congressional Armed Forces, known as the Exofleet. This was mainly to protect shipping vessels and civilian craft from Pirate Clan raids in Venusian airspace though the ExoFleet saw a greater role in fighting the Neosapiens in the Neosapien Revolt of 2069 A.D. During the revolt, Venus was almost under complete Neosapien control.

Venus would again fall under the rule of Neosapiens during the First Battle of Venus in 2119 A.D. as part of “Operation Destiny”. The Neosapien Commonwealth attacked and conquered the Homeworlds, violating the disarmament treaty they signed after the Neosapien Revolt of 2069 A.D. They were governed by Governor General Draconis during the Neosapien occupational rule. Most of Venus was devastated during the initial takeover and was further ravaged when Draconis employed scorched earth tactics to exterminate the Terran population. Most Terrans who survived the famine from the scorched earth tactics either joined the Venus Resistance or were placed in regimentation camps near Lake Uris, with a small terran population used as a labor work force allowed reside in Vesta. With the lack of infrastructure on Venus, the Neosapien Occupational Forces commandeered the existing ExoFleet bases of Fort Elizabeth on Mount Artemis and Port Russell on the Sea of Amon.

Venus was the location of a GRAF Shield, a defensive weapon capable of decimating entire fleets approaching the planet. It had been invented by Professor Algernon, but all the credit had gone the Neosapien scientist Xenobius. Before the GRAF Shield could be used against Exofleet, the Able Squad extracted Algernon, who then reprogrammed it to destroy the Neosapien Venus Fleet during the Second Battle of Venus. With Algernon kidnapped and Xenobius arrested and, most likely, executed for treason, the Neosapiens deactivated the shield fearing another malfunction. It was later reactivated when 2 Neo Mega advisors overrode Algernon's programming.

After this manifestation of Exofleet's power, the Venusian Resistance became more organized, now led by James Burns; whose sister, Lieutenant Nara Burns, was a member and later, the leader of the Able Squad.

The Neosapien Occupation lasted until 2121 A.D. when ExoFleet-Pirate Clans Joint Forces won the Third Battle of Venus. General Draconis, seeing that the battle was lost, ordered Thrax to trigger the nuclear warheads located in Vesta to kill as many Terrans as possible. Thrax decided to disobey this order, saving thousands of lives.

Venus then served as a safe haven for Terrans until the end of the war. The Fourth Battle of Venus, the last major Neosapien offensive, resulted in the destruction of the majority of the Neosapien navy. James Burns was revived, along with his parents with the cloning technology.

The Drej targeted Venus once the destruction of the Titan.

Physical characteristics
Venus is one of the four solar terrestrial planets, meaning that, like the Earth, it is a rocky body. In size and mass, it is very similar to the Earth, and is often described as its 'sister', or Earth's twin. The diameter of Venus is only 650 km less than the Earth's, and its mass is 81.5% of the Earth's. However, conditions on the Venusian surface differ radically from those on Earth, due to its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere. About 80% of Venus's surface is covered by smooth volcanic plains, consisting of 70% plains with wrinkle ridges and 10% smooth or lobate plains. As well as the impact craters, mountains, and valleys commonly found on rocky planets, Venus has a number of unique surface features. Among these are flat-topped volcanic features called farra, which look somewhat like pancakes and range in size from 20–50 km across, and 100–1,000 m high radial.

Atmosphere
Venus has an extremely dense atmosphere, which consists mainly of carbon dioxide and a small amount of nitrogen. The CO2-rich atmosphere, along with thick clouds of sulfur dioxide, generates the strongest greenhouse effect in this planet, creating surface temperatures of over 460°C. Above the dense CO2 layer are thick clouds consisting mainly of sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid droplets. These clouds reflect about 60% of the sunlight that falls on them back into space, and prevent the direct observation of Venus's surface in visible light!

Climate
The natural climate of Venus would be inhospitable as the surface temperature is over 460°C. The thick clouds of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide would precipitate sulfuric acid rain droplets, but due to the high temperatures the rain evaporates before reaching the surface. In relation of  Cowboy Bebop, Venus, in 2071, has been terraformed and this has allowed life to be sustained. The atmosphere of Venus has been changed through the introduction of plants which converts carbon dioxide to oxygen through photosynthesis. Venus does not have any natural seas, which explains the vast desert.

Geography
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The diameter of Venus is 12,092 km (only 650 km less than the Earth's) and its mass is 81.5% of the Earth's. Two highland continents make up most of its surface area, one lying in the planet's northern hemisphere and the other just south of the equator. The northern continent is called Ishtar Terra, after Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love, and is about the size of Australia. Maxwell Montes, the highest mountain on Venus, lies on Ishtar Terra. Its peak is 11 km above the Venusian average surface elevation. The southern continent is called Aphrodite Terra, after the Greek goddess of love, and is the larger of the two highland regions at roughly the size of South America. Though Venus technically has no Moon, 2002 VE68 is a temporary quasi-satellite of Venus. It was the first quasi-satellite to be discovered around a major planet in the Solar System. From the point of view of Venus, it appears to travel around it during one Venusian year but it actually orbits the Sun, not Venus.

Life on Venus
Numerous floating islands were constructed above the surface of the planet and acted as filters for Venus' natural Carbon dioxide atmosphere that would normally make life unsustainable. They were grown on islands because the surface was too hot.

The plants had an adverse side-effect in humans called Venus Sickness. The airborne disease caused blindness in some people who came into contact with the spores. The Grey Ash plant cures Venus Sickness but it is extremely rare and expensive to purchase. It is thus a valuable part of the black market trade on Venus.

The atmosphere of Venus has a high content of helium which causes people to speak in a high-pitched voice but is otherwise harmless. Pills are taken orally to counter-act the voice modulation.

Mythology
Venus, also known as Aphrodite in the Greek pantheon, was the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility in Roman mythology.

Astrology
In Western astrology, Venus is traditionally associated with love, affection, beauty, and art. A person with Venus dominating in their natal chart is supposed to be kind, pleasant, and seductive, similar to Sailor Venus. The qualitative opposite of Venus is Mars.

Venus is associated with Friday. Dante Alighieri associated Venus with the art of rhetoric.

In Chinese astrology, Venus is associated with the element metal (or gold). In Indian astrology, Venus represents wealth and pleasure.

Trivia

 * Venus rotates backwards compared to the other planets
 * The surface of Venus is very dry and characterized with flat plains, highland regions, and depressions
 * There are very few impact craters on Venus. Mars, the Moon and Mercury are full of impact craters
 * Venus' gravity is about 90% of the pull of gravity on Earth
 * Venus in modeled after Istanbul, Turkey.
 * It has no moons
 * It has two continents, Aphrodite and Ishtar
 * It is the hottest planet in our solar system
 * It is the closest planet to earth
 * Earth and Venus are almost identical in size
 * In Japanese calendar, Friday is called "kinyoubi" (金曜日), meaning "the day of gold."