Venus is the second planet of the solar system in order of proximity to the Sun and the third in terms of size in ascending order after Mercury and Mars, like Mercury, it lacks natural satellites, it receives its name in honor of Venus, the goddess roman of love, even though Venus isn't the closest planet to the Sun, it is still the hottest, it has a thick atmosphere full of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid, the gas traps heat and keeps Venus toasty warm, in fact, it's so hot on Venus, metals like lead would be puddles of melted liquid, Venus is similar in size to Earth is just a little bit bigger, Venus is unusual because it spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets, and its rotation is very slow, it takes about 243 Earth days to spin around just once, venus has an active surface, including volcanoes.