[JMLCarter (OP)]

Venus
distance from sun, 108,942,109km
mean surface temp    460°C = 735K
atmosphere: dense

Mercury
minimum distance form sun, 46,001,200 km
maximum surface temperature 700K
atmosphere: none

Despite Venus receiving around one quarter the intensity of sunlight as Mercury, its mean surface temperature exceeds the highest temperature on Mercury.

Is this due to atmospheric warming alone, and what does it tell us about climate change on earth?

[CliffordK]

A few more details:
Distance to sun, about 0.72 AU.
Using rule that radiation decreases with the square of the distance, Venus gets about 1.93 x as much sunlight as Earth.

Venus's atmosphere is:
96.5% CO₂
3.5% N₂
< 1% of everything else.
Surface pressure is about 92ATM
Solar Day: 117 Earth Days (although the atmosphere at high altitude circles the planet in about 4 days).

Earth's atmosphere is:
78% N₂
21% O₂
.93% Argon
0.04% CO₂
Surface pressure of about 1ATM

Any comparison between Earth and Venus is difficult at best due to the very dense atmosphere, as well as the very high concentration of CO₂.   

The most interesting thing about Venus is the very minimal day/night temperature variation, as well as the minimal equatorial/polar temperature variation (as far as we can determine).