Venus: Crash Course Astronomy #14

Venus is a gorgeous naked-eye planet, hanging like a diamond in the twilight -- but its beauty is best looked at from afar. Even though Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, due to a runaway greenhouse effect, and has the most volcanic activity in the solar system. Its north and south poles were flipped, causing it to rotate backward and making for very strange days on this beautiful but inhospitable world. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace http://www.squarespace.com/crashcourse Check out the Crash Course Astronomy solar system poster here: http://store.dftba.com/products/crashcourse-astronomy-poster -- Chapters: Introduction: Venus 00:00 Venus's Phases 0:55 Transit of Venus 1:31 Venus's Atmosphere 3:06 How did Venus get so hot? 4:13 Venus's Slow Rotation & Retrograde Motion 6:02 Venus's Spherical Structure 7:09 Venus's Surface 7:48 Volcanic Activity on Venus 8:31 Review 10:04 -- PBS Digital Studios: http://youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios Follow Phil on Twitter: https://twitter.com/badastronomer Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at http://www.patreon.com/crashcourse Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/YouTubeCrashCourse Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/TheCrashCourse Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thecrashcourse/ CC Kids: http://www.youtube.com/crashcoursekids -- PHOTOS/VIDEOS Naked-eye Venus photo taken by Phil Plait Phases of Venus http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phases-of-Venus2.jpg [credit: Wikimedia Commons] 2012 Venus Transit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34mXua1n_FQ [credit: NASA] Black drop effect in 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_drop_effect#mediaviewer/File:BlackDrop-Venus-Transit.jpg [credit: Vesta] Venus Transit http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/657111main_1-SOT_120606_venus_ca_nc_yellow_001_color_full.jpg [credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin] Venus in real colors http://en.wikipedi