Is Venus Yellow? The Gorgeous Planet’s Unique Color, Explained

Most people often think of Venus as a bright yellow planet traveling through space, but in reality, its natural color is actually much different. Considering its extremely tiny size compared to the rest of the universe, our Solar System is a pretty fascinating place. Earth is teeming with life, Mars is filled with endless rocks/dust, and Saturn has an intricate ring system unlike any of its neighbors.

Also present in the Solar System is Venus. The second planet from the Sun, Venus is a pretty fascinating destination. It’s extremely hot, has a toxic atmosphere composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide, and is one of the brightest objects in Earth’s sky (second only to the Moon). It’s not a planet humans dream of visiting the way they do with Mars, but it’s a fascinating world to study from afar.

One of Venus’s most striking attributes is its color. More often than not, people think of the planet as it’s shown in the photo above. They associate it as having a rich yellow color that stands out from just about everything else in the Solar System. However, this isn’t what Venus actually looks like. The planet does appear yellow, but if someone were to fly by it right now, they’d see that Venus’s natural color is actually quite dull.

Venus’s Natural Color Is Much More Muted

The first photo in this article is a real picture of Venus, but it only shows Venus’s surface below its thick clouds. More importantly, it was taken by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft using radio waves. As explained by astronomer and former NASA employee James O’Donoghue, “We can’t see radio, so this [the first photo] has been put into colors so we can understand. We could have put this in any colors we like! We evidently chose those which fit the ‘personality’ of the Venusian surface.” Astronomers know that Venus is a hot and hellish planet, and one that has a natural yellow hue. As such, this famous photograph of the planet was given a deep yellow color to represent those things.

As for what Venus looks like to the human eye, it’d be much more similar to the second photo in this article. On the left is a picture of Venus taken by NASA’s Messenger spacecraft in 2007. It looks quite a bit different, doesn’t it? That’s because you’re seeing the planet as if you were passing by in a spacecraft — not peering through all of its clouds and looking directly at the surface. The shot of Venus on the right was captured by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft and better highlights the gorgeous detail of the planet’s clouds. The image also reveals a yellow hue thanks to copious amounts of sulfuric acid on Venus, though it’s nothing like the harsh yellow color of the first photo.

So, is Venus yellow? It is, but not how many people imagine it. A mixture of carbon dioxide and sulphuric acid means the planet does appear yellowish — just not as intense as the first photo suggests. Regardless of how vibrant its yellow hue is, it doesn’t take away at all from Venus’s striking appearance. There is a reason it was named after the Roman goddess of beauty, after all.

Source: NASA, James O’Donoghue

About The Author

Joe Maring
(1516 Articles Published)

Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he’s happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.

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