Venus

Venus (also known as Sol II) was the inhabited second planet of the Sol system.

Location
In the late 19th century, the orbital path of Venus was depicted on a German map of the inner system. (, opening credits)

In 2254, the orbit of Venus was depicted on a map of the inner system, which was stored in the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) library computer. This was one of the records scanned by the Talosians. (, production art)

In 2267, the orbit of Venus was depicted on "Chart 14A: The Sol System", which was stored in the Enterprise library computer. This chart was scanned by the probe Nomad in Auxiliary Control. (, production art)

History
Before the invention of the telescope, Humans discovered Venus in the night sky. This planet was explored by unmanned NASA spacecraft in the twenty-two years that followed the launch of Sputnik in 1957. As of 1953, Venus was also featured in science fiction magazines, e.g., in Incredible Tales of Scientific Wonder with a story called "Venusian Chronicles" written by Hugh Campbell. (, okudagram; )

During his early career in the 2340s, Chakotay spent a couple of months on Venus to learn how to pilot a shuttle in atmospheric storms. After he had finished his training, he spent a semester learning to dodge asteroids in the. 

In 2364, when the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) crew was infected with polywater intoxication, an officer serving in the shuttlebay delivered an inappropriate limerick over the comm to other crewmembers. ("There was a young lady from Venus whose body was shaped like a...") Hearing this, Lieutenant Commander Data began to repeat the limerick, but was cut off by Picard before completing it. 

By the 2370s, Venus had a number of terraforming stations on its surface. 

In an alternate timeline, Miles O'Brien, while still in the 24th century, noted that the terraforming stations on Venus were gone, following the creation of an alternate timeline created when Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax, and Julian Bashir disrupted history after transporting to the 21st century.

Background information
In a filmed but deleted Kirk voice-over which originally introduced, Venus was mentioned by Kirk as one of multiple "specks of dust" while the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was on a heading out of the Milky Way Galaxy. ("Where No Man Has Gone Before" (Rare and Unaired Alternate Version), TOS Season 3 Blu-ray special features)

In the final revised draft script of, a performance of Hamlet by the Karidian Company of Players was referred to as having "decor carried out in a strange Venusian version of castle and grounds."

According to Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 38; "United Federation of Planets I"), Venus was classified as an N-class planet. This planet was a charter member of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. In the late 24th century, a major orbital facility was the Aphrodite Terraforming Station.

In the Fifteenth UK Story Arc, set in the late 2260s, a research depot on Venus lent the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) experimental repair robots.