The Enigmatic Glow: Seeing Through the Veil of Venus Venus is often called Earth's twin, but one look at its surface reveals a world that is anything but familiar. Cloaked in a thick, toxic atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid, our neighbor planet has long hidden its secrets behind a dense curtain of clouds. However, recent missions and historic landings have finally allowed us to see what lies beneath. NASA's Venus Gallery offers a stunning collection of these images, ranging from ultraviolet cloud patterns to radar-mapped terrain. [11] The Only Glimpses from the Ground
Since visible light can't penetrate the Venusian atmosphere, scientists use specialized instruments to "see" the planet.
A day on Venus is longer than its year. [31, 38]
