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How to Make a Project Picture of the Planet Venus

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is similar enough to Earth that scientists believed for years that it may have supported life. Although astronomers now know that Venus is too hot and dry for anything to live there, people remain fascinated by our neighboring planet. The surface of Venus is highly textured, with volcanoes, lava flows, highland ranges and large craters. Display your knowledge of Venus trivia and geography when you make a picture of Venus for a class project.

Things You'll Need

Red card stock
Pencil
Compass
Scissors
Glue
Sand
Pen

Instructions

- 1
  Draw a large pencil circle on the card stock using the compass. Cut the circle out. This will be your planet.
- 2
  Write your favorite facts about Venus in pen on one side of the circle. Some suggestions include that Venus once was covered in water but is now dry; that Venus is almost as big as Earth; that Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love; and that Venus has a lot of active volcanoes.
- 3
  Turn the circle over and apply a thin layer of glue to the entire back surface. Sprinkle sand evenly over it so that the red of the card stock is only slightly visible. Your Venus should now be fairly evenly sand-colored.
- 4
  Apply extra glue and sand to an area at the top of your picture to represent the highland region called Ishtar Terra and to another area halfway down your picture to represent the highlands called Aphrodite Terra. Make the sand in these areas visibly thicker than across the rest of the picture.
- 5
  Allow the glue to dry, then scrape some of the sand off in various places across the picture, revealing the red card stock beneath. This represents large craters on Venus' surface. The red represents the lava flows all over the planet.

Astronomy