Venus is a gorgeous naked-eye planet, hanging like a diamond in the twilight -- but it’s 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 backwards and making for very strange days on this beautiful but inhospitable world.

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Table of Contents
Venus’s Size and Atmosphere 3:09
Hottest Planet in the Solar System 4:04
Slow Clockwise Rotation 6:02
Tremendous Volcanic Activity 8:31

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PHOTOS/VIDEOS
Naked-eye Venus photo taken by Phil Plait
Phases of Venus commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phases-of-Venus2.jpg [credit: Wikimedia Commons]
2012 Venus Transit www.youtube.com/watch?v=34mXua1n_FQ [credit: NASA]
Black drop effect in 2004 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_drop_effect#mediaviewer/File:BlackDrop-Venus-Transit.jpg [credit: Vesta]
Venus Transit 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 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#mediaviewer/File:Venus-real_color.jpg [credit: NASA]
Earth visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723 [credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Image by Reto Stöckli]
Venus www.msss.com/images/science/venus180hem_magellan_big.jpg [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Magellan Project]
Atmospheric Drag on Venus www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRAonBSIBck [credit: NASA]
Lakshmi Planum and Maxwell Montes en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_snow#mediaviewer/File:Maxwell_Montes_of_planet_Venus.jpg [credit: NASA/JPL]
Artist's impression of the surface of Venus sci.esa.int/science-e-media/img/59/VenusSurface.jpg [credit: ESA]
Venera Images planetimages.blogspot.com/ [credit: Ted Stryk]
Venus Globe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#mediaviewer/File:Venus_globe.jpg [credit: NASA]
Impact craters on the surface of Venus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus#mediaviewer/File:Mgn_p39146.png [credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Idunn Mons photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figures/PIA13001_fig1.jpg [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA]
Pancake Volcanoes en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake_dome#mediaviewer/File:PIA00084_Eistla_region_pancake_volcanoes.jpg [credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory]

1. Introduction to Astronomy
2. Naked Eye Observations
3. Cycles in the Sky
4. Moon Phases
5. Eclipses
6. Telescopes
7. The Gravity of the Situation
8. Tides
9. Introduction to the Solar System
10. The Sun
11. The Earth
12. The Moon
13. Mercury
14. Venus
15. Mars
16. Jupiter
17. Jupiter's Moons
18. Saturn
19. Uranus & Neptune
20. Asteroids
21. Comets
22. The Oort Cloud
23. Meteors
24. Light
25. Distances
26. Stars
27. Exoplanets
28. Brown Dwarfs
29. Low Mass Stars
30. White Dwarfs & Planetary Nebulae
31. High Mass Stars
32. Neutron Stars
33. Black Holes
34. Binary and Multiple Stars
35. Star Clusters
36. Nebulae
37. The Milky Way
38. Galaxies, part 1
39. Galaxies, part 2
40. Gamma-Ray Bursts
41. Dark Matter
42. The Big Bang, Cosmology part 1
43. Dark Energy, Cosmology part 2
44. A Brief History of the Universe
45. Deep Time
46. Everything, The Universe...And Life
47. Explore The Solar System:

In this Crash Course series, marvel at the wonders of astronomy with your host for this intergalactic adventure, the Bad Astronomer himself -- Phil Plait. In just 40 short lessons, you will learn the basics of the oldest science known to humanity.

Be sure to check out links to relevant Photos in the description for each video.