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Venus
Venus is the closest planet to Earth, and it's about the same size.  Thankfully for us though, the weather here is completely different.  Venus's weather is very violent with regular acid rain and thick cloud cover.  The clouds hold heat in, in the same way that the glass of a greenhouse traps the heat.  These clouds also reflect the sunlight, which is why Venus appears so bright to us from Earth.
  • Venus is the hottest planet.  It gets so hot during the day that it could melt lead.
  • Venus orbits the Sun once every 225 Earth days.  At the same time it rotates slowly on it's axis in a clockwise direction.  One rotation takes 243 Earth days, so a Venusian day is longer than a Venusian year!
  • Venus rotates in the opposite direction to all the other planets.
  • Venus is also known as 'The Morning Star' and 'The Evening Star'
  • When the spacecraft Venera 7 landed on Venus it was the first spacecraft ever to land on another planet.

On 24th November 1639 Jeremiah Horrocks made the first observations of a Transit of Venus.  These occur when Venus passes directly between Earth and the Sun. The picture opposite was taken by us during the most recent Transit which occurred on 8th June 2004, the first since 1881.  You won't have to wait so long for the next one!  It will occur on 6th June 2012.  After that there will not be another one in your lifetime!
Spotting Venus doesn't take much work.  The thick cloud which covers Venus is a very good light reflector so it is the brightest natural object in the night sky apart from the sun and the moon.  Like the moon, Venus goes through 'phases' such as half, crescent etc.  These phases can only be seen through a telescope though.  Venus is one of only two planets  in the Solar System with no moons (the other one is Mercury).