Venus is known as the hottest planet in the Solar System, which is why the Romans called it the Morning Star. Photo: Nasa
JAKARTA – Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the closest planet to Earth. This planet is similar in size and mass to Earth, so it is often referred to as “Earth’s twin”.
However, behind these similarities, Venus holds many interesting facts that not many people know.
Here are 7 interesting facts about Venus:
1. Hottest Planet in the Solar System
Venus is a very hot planet even though it is not close to the Sun. This is because Venus’s dense atmosphere contains around 96.5 percent carbon dioxide gas.
These gases act like a blanket that traps heat from the Sun and makes the temperature on the surface of Venus very high, reaching around 462 degrees Celsius.
2. Venus’ rotation is longer than its revolution
One Venusian day (its rotation period) takes 243 Earth days, even longer than a Venusian year (its revolution period), which only takes 225 Earth days.
Additionally, because Venus rotates very slowly, sunrise to sunset takes about 117 Earth days. What’s more interesting, on Venus, the sun will rise in the west and set in the east, the opposite of Earth.
3. The Sun Rises in the West and Sets in the East
Unlike Earth, Venus actually rotates in the opposite direction to the Sun, this is called retrograde rotation. This means, on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
One possibility of this happening is due to a collision with an asteroid or other celestial body in the past which changed the direction of Venus’ rotation.
2024-02-01 00:30:39
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