White metal, sulfuric gold: celestial architecture

“What color is Venus really?

From space, Venus is a bright white because it is covered with clouds. At the surface, the rocks are different shades of grey, like rocks on Earth, but the thick atmosphere filters the sunlight so that everything would look red…”

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Venus&Display=FAQ

“The clouds of Venus appear to be bright white or yellow…”
http://www.space.com/18527-venus-atmosphere.html

“Sulfuric acid is produced in the upper atmosphere of Venus by the Sun’s photochemical action on carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor. Ultraviolet photons of wavelengths less than 169 nm can photodissociate carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and atomic oxygen. Atomic oxygen is highly reactive. When it reacts with sulfur dioxide, a trace component of the Venusian atmosphere, the result is sulfur trioxide, which can combine with water vapor, another trace component of Venus’s atmosphere, to yield sulfuric acid.

In the upper, cooler portions of Venus’s atmosphere, sulfuric acid exists as a liquid, and thick sulfuric acid clouds completely obscure the planet’s surface when viewed from above. The main cloud layer extends from 45–70 km above the planet’s surface, with thinner hazes extending as low as 30 km and as high as 90 km above the surface. The permanent Venusian clouds produce a concentrated acid rain, as the clouds in the atmosphere of Earth produce water rain…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid#Venus

“Venus has the distinction of being the hottest planet in the solar system..
The atmosphere of Venus is made up almost completely of carbon dioxide.”

Sulfur proves important in the formation of gold mines
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110106164626.htm

Nanoparticle reveals sulfur’s Midas touch
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/news/2007/october/18100702.asp

http://www.space.com/25916-european-spacecraft-plunge-venus-atmosphere.html

http://www.space.com/25911-venus-probe-s-daring-aerobrake-maneuver-visualized.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dry_Ice_Pellets_Subliming.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide