Summary:
- Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is often called Earth's "sister planet" due to their similar sizes.
- Venus is extremely bright in the night sky because it reflects a lot of sunlight. This is due to its thick, cloudy atmosphere which is made up mostly of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid.
- The high reflectivity of Venus' clouds gives it a very high albedo, meaning it reflects about 75% of the sunlight that hits it back into space. This makes Venus appear as the third-brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon.