How Hot Is Venus?

What is Venus's surface temperature?

According to NASA, Venus has an average surface temperature of about 867°F (464°C), and parts of the surface reach over 900°F. To put that in perspective, lead melts at 621°F and tin melts at 449°F. A pizza oven cranked to its hottest setting tops out around 900°F. Venus is hot enough at its surface to melt several common metals and is far beyond any temperature humans or current spacecraft electronics could survive for long.

Is Venus hotter than Mercury?

Yes, by a significant margin. Mercury's daytime peak is around 800°F, but Mercury's nights drop to -290°F, so the average is much lower. Venus stays around 900°F constantly. The reason is atmospheric: Mercury has essentially none, so heat escapes the moment the Sun sets. Venus has a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide that traps heat and circulates it around the entire planet, keeping the temperature uniform regardless of location or time of day.

Does Venus get cooler at night or at the poles?

Barely. The surface temperature varies by only a few degrees between day and night, and the poles are only slightly cooler than the equator. The thick atmosphere acts like a thermal blanket, redistributing heat so efficiently that the entire planet stays at roughly the same brutal temperature. At higher altitudes in the atmosphere, things get cooler, but at the surface, there's nowhere on Venus to escape the heat.

What does Venus's heat feel like, in human terms?

Absolutely fatal, almost instantly. A human standing on Venus's surface would face three lethal hazards at once: temperatures hot enough to cook them, atmospheric pressure 92 times Earth's that would crush them like being 900 meters underwater, and an atmosphere of carbon dioxide laced with sulfuric acid clouds. Even early Soviet Venera landers, built to withstand the environment, only lasted between 23 minutes and about 2 hours before their electronics failed in the heat.