Why does on Venus a day is longer than a year?
Venus is the second nearest planet to the sun after mercury. It is peculiar to any other planet of the solar system in many ways. It is the hottest planet of the solar system and it has no moons. Moreover, it doesn't rotate in the same direction as other planets do. It rotates from east to west, while other planets rotate from west to east around their own axis. Thus Venus has sunrise in the west and sunset in east w.r.t. earth. Venus is the second brightest space body in the night sky after the moon. You can spot it in the east in the morning and in the west during evening time. Thus we called it Morning and Evening star too. So Venus is very special in many ways to any other planet of the solar system. But there is one more fascinating thing about the planet Venus. Venus is the only planet in the solar system on which a day is longer than a year. You may get shocked but this is true. A day on Venus is equal to 243 earth days and a year on Venus is equal to approximately 225 earth days. |
| Why does on Venus a day is longer than a year? |
Why this strange phenomenon occurs at Venus?
First of all, you need to know how a day and a year is calculated on any planet. There are two motions associated with any planet, one is rotation around the sun and other is its revolution around its own axis. Now the time that a planet took to complete one full rotation around the sun is what we call a year and the time that a planet took to complete one revolution around its own axis is called a day on that planet. For example, earth took approximately 365 days to complete one rotation around the sun so we call it a year and it takes 24 hours to revolve around its own axis, so we call it a day.
Now as the Venus is very close to the sun so its rotation circle is small in size. Thus it takes only 225 earth days to complete one rotation around the sun. But on the other hand, it takes 243 earth days to revolve around its own axis due to its slow speed of revolution. So according to our definition, the day on Venus is longer than a year on it.
The surface temperature on Venus can reach 471°C. It is because it has CO₂ cloud in its atmosphere which keeps heat trapped to its surface.
Thanks for reading our post Why does on Venus a day is longer than a year? Hope you gain your knowledge about this topic and you learn an interesting topic about Science Facts.
Sharing is caring, share this article with your loved ones!
This blog everyday science is a place where we offer you fascinating and mind boggling science facts and theories, make you learn deep and complex concepts of science easily and shower you with captivating and astounding knowledge of science you need daily.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon