Eli5: Venus is the second planet from The Sun, Mercury is first. Why is Venus still the hotttest planet in the Solar System?
In: Planetary Science
On a hot day being outside might be hot. But if you go into a black car it’s sweltering.
That’s how it is with Mercury and Venus. Mercury may be closer to the sun but it has no/very little atmosphere so it doesn’t trap the heat in/ this creates a polarity on Mercury where the side facing the sun is very hot due to being directly exposed but the other side cold due to not trapping any heat.
Venus has a very thick atmosphere, so although it’s farther it’s trapping in the heat very much like the car in the analogy above.
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