Venus Is the Hottest Planet in the Solar System

Mercury is closer to the Sun, so it seems the obvious candidate for hottest planet. It is not. NASA states that Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system, with surface temperatures of about 872 degrees Fahrenheit, or 467 degrees Celsius. That is hot enough to melt lead. The reason is the air. According to NASA, the thick atmosphere of Venus traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, the same gas that drives the greenhouse effect on Earth, and it holds dense clouds composed of sulfuric acid. NASA adds that Venus has the hottest surface in the solar system apart from the Sun itself, hotter even than Mercury, the innermost planet.