Venus artwork This is the second planet from the Sun the next in from Earth and around million kilometres further in an average of million kilometres from the Sun Its diameter of kilometres is slightly smaller than that of the Earth Venus has a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulphuric acid clouds that obscure the rocky surface The atmosphere traps the Suns heat and leads to surface temperatures of over degrees Celsius the hottest planetary surface in the solar system In addition the atmospheric pressure on the surface is times that on Earth