Which planet rotates in the opposite direction? TOP 10 interesting facts about Venus Which planet rotates counterclockwise

Venus is the brightest object in the sky. Although ancient people knew about Venus, some cultures believed that it was two separate celestial objects - the evening star and the morning star. The Greek astronomer was the first to realize that the evening and morning stars are actually the same object. Many cultures have assigned the planet a corresponding goddess of love and beauty. Venus is the Roman name for this goddess. The Babylonians called the planet Ishtar, and the Greeks called it Aphrodite.

The average distance from Venus to the Sun is 108.21 million kilometers. This is an average distance as Venus moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. At the closest point of its orbit, called perihelion, Venus is only 107.48 million kilometers from the Sun. And then at the farthest point of its orbit, Venus is 108.94 million kilometers from the Sun.

Venus takes 224.7 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. But it also takes 243.02 days to turn around its axis. In other words, a day on Venus is actually longer than a year on Venus. It is also strange that Venus rotates in reverse direction compared with . Visible above the north pole, Venus is seen turning clockwise. If you could stand on the surface of Venus, you would see that the Sun rises in the west, moving slowly across the sky, and sets in the east, unlike Earth.

Scientists believe that Venus is a twin because of its similarity. For example, the radius of Venus is 6.052 km; 95% of the Earth's radius. The mass of Venus is 81.5% of the mass of the Earth, and the density is 5.24 g/cm 3, while the density of the Earth is 5.51 g/cm 3. If you were standing on the surface of Venus, you would experience 90% of the gravity you feel on Earth.

A day on Venus lasts 243 days; which is unusual given the fact that a year on Venus is only 224.7 days long. In other words, a day on Venus is longer than its year. Moreover, Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise around its axis. All other planets rotate counterclockwise.

Radar imaging of Venus's surface showed it has impact craters across the planet, and evidence of widespread volcanism. smaller and almost always low shield volcanoes. It was thought that some major event reshaped the surface of Venus 300-500 million years ago, erasing older impact craters and volcanoes. This event also turned off the planet's plate tectonics, trapping heat inside the planet. Without heat escaping, convection in Venus' core also stopped and the planet lost its magnetic field. The interior of Venus is similar to Earth. The planet has a metallic core surrounded by a rocky mantle and a thin crust. But unlike Earth, Venus has no plate tectonics and no carbon cycle that moves carbon from the atmosphere and stores it within the planet. This is one of the problems that may have led to Venus' runaway greenhouse effect.

Although Venus has many similarities with Earth, it also has many differences. Perhaps the biggest difference is in its atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus is 92 times greater than at sea level. In fact, you would have to dive 1 km below the ocean's surface to experience the same pressure. This atmosphere consists almost entirely of carbon dioxide, with dense clouds of sulfur dioxide. Due to its carbon dioxide atmosphere, Venus experiences the strongest in the Solar System. The temperature on the surface of Venus is 460°C, no matter where you are on the planet. It's hot enough to melt lead, and it destroyed the spaceship in a matter of hours.

At one time, scientists and science fiction writers believed that the surface of Venus was tropical in nature. Some believe that faith was the only reason that Soviet Union launched a series of surface probes to the planet. After seven missions were destroyed under pressure before they could reach the surface, Venera 8 touched down and disappointed millions. Several other probes were able to land in the following years. The last one to land was the Venus Express. He arrived in April 2006 and studied the planet's surface and atmosphere until he could no longer work.

Because of its dense clouds, Venus could not be observed from Earth. Early observations showed that the planet went through phases like the Moon, demonstrating that it orbited the Sun inside the Earth's orbit. But until the first spacecraft observations were made, astronomers did not fully understand what was beneath the dense clouds. Radar photographs from NASA's Magellan spacecraft have imaged the entire planet, revealing a hellish world covered in rocks and ancient lava flows. Several Russian spaceships landed on the surface of the planet, staying there for only a few hours and sent photographs from the surface of the planet.

Venus is often referred to as the Morning Star because it orbits closer to the Sun than our planet. This causes Venus to appear in the western sky after sunset and before sunrise in the eastern sky. In addition, only the Sun and Moon are brighter than Venus in our night sky. Because of all this, Venus is difficult to ignore even with the naked eye.

Venus has no moons or rings.

About Venus(Items without links are under development)

• Interesting facts about V.
• History of planet V.
• Atmosphere V.
• How far is V. from the Sun
• Distance from Earth to V.
• Planet V. for children
• What is the gravity on V.
• How to find V. in the sky
• What does V. consist of?
• Does V. have moons?
• How did V. get her name?
• How long is a day in V.?
• Diameter B.
• Retrograde rotation B.
• Surface B.
• Symbol B.
• Temperature B.
• Does V. have rings?
• How long is a year in V.?
• Does V. have volcanoes?
• Video V.
• Color V.
• Orbit V.
• How many moons does V. have?
• Luna and V.
• V. and Mercury
• Age V.
• Craters on V.
• Earth and V.
• How hot is V.?
• Life on V.
• Mass V.
• Radius B.
• V. compared to Earth
• Size B.
• Volume B.
• Discovery V.
• Transit V.
• V., Morning Star
• Phases B.
• Greenhouse effect B.
• Axis B.
• Density B.
• Circumference B.
• Composition V.
• Geology V.
• Core B.
• Inner part B.
• Inside V.
• Weight on V.
• How long does it take to get to V?
• Is there water on V.?
• Climate V.
• How big is V?
• Satellites V.
• Landing on E.
• Rotation B.
• Characteristics V.
• Earth's Twin
• Weather in V.
• Winds on the E.
• Designation for V.
• Albedo V.
• Number of moons V.
• Clouds on the E.
• Is V. the hottest planet?
• V. and Jupiter
• The most nearby planet to V.
• Origin of V.
• Does V. have seasons?
• Rotation period B.
• Compound B.
• Shading B.
• Sun and V.
• Retrograd V. 2009
• Retrograd V. 2010
• Who discovered V.?
• Evening Star
• What is the duration of one orbit B around the Sun?
• When was V. discovered?
• What color is V.?
• Length of day in V.
• Length of the year in V.
• Why is V. hotter than Mercury?
• Why is V. so hot?
• Globe V.
• Research by V.
• What age is V.?
• Facts about V.
• Collection of photographs by V.
• Magnetic field B.

Title of the article you read "Venus".

Is it true that Venus rotates counterclockwise??? and got the best answer

Answer from Ulenspiegel[guru]
Yes it's true. And Uranus generally lies “on its side.”

Answer from Glukhov Ivan[newbie]
Venus rotates in the opposite direction to its orbital motion. That is, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east

Answer from Ivan Vasilyevich changes profession[guru]
She spins venereally, of course!

Answer from Dmitry Nizyaev[guru]
It depends on which pole you are watching from... But no matter how it spins, it is not at all surprising. Why shouldn’t it, in fact, rotate at least this way? Uranus is truly amazing. It rotates completely out of the plane of its orbit, and this is a very unstable position. Strictly speaking, during the process of its formation, a planet has a chance to acquire a resulting rotation in absolutely any plane and in any direction. But if the plane of rotation of the planet does not coincide with the plane of its orbit, then tidal forces cause precession - approximately the same behavior as a top whose axis is not vertical. Friction forces arise along the Coriolis arcs, and these forces gradually, revolution after revolution, change the direction of the axis of rotation. And the closer the plane of rotation is to the orbital plane, the less Corisolis forces interfere with the process - which sooner or later leads to the balancing of this plane. Therefore, most planets rotate exactly or almost exactly in the plane of their orbit.
And Uranus rotates crosswise! And from this we can draw one of two conclusions: either Uranus is much younger than the other planets of the system, or the plane of its rotation accidentally turned out to be so close to the perpendicular to the orbit that the Coriolis forces balance each other. Figuratively speaking, the planet found itself in such precise balance that it still cannot decide which side it should fall on. A rare case, it turns out!

Answer from Nikolay Gorelov[guru]
Look at the sky. The sun scratches across it clockwise, which means our Earth is counterclockwise. Then, Venus rotates clockwise, i.e., not like people do.

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Is it true that Venus rotates counterclockwise???

Earth and Venus are similar in size and mass. In addition, they revolve around the Sun in very similar orbits. The size of Venus is only 650 km smaller than the size of Earth. The mass of Venus is 81.5% of the mass of the Earth.

But that's where the similarities end. The atmosphere of Venus consists of 96.5% carbon dioxide(CO2), the temperature on the planet is absolutely unsuitable for flora and fauna, because it reaches 475 °C. There is also very high pressure on Venus, which will crush you if you suddenly want to walk on the surface of this planet.

2. Venus is so bright that it can create shadows.

Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in the night sky by their magnitude. Only the Sun and Moon are brighter than Venus. Its brightness can range between magnitudes -3.8 and -4.6, but what is clear is that it is always brighter than any of the brightest stars in the sky.

Venus can be so bright that it can actually cause shadows. Wait until it's a dark night when there's no moon in the sky and check it out for yourself.

3. The atmosphere of Venus is extremely hostile.

Although Venus is similar to Earth in size and mass, its atmosphere is unique in its own way. The mass of the atmosphere is 93 times greater than the mass of the Earth's atmosphere. If you suddenly found yourself on the surface of Venus, you would experience 92 times the pressure that you experience on Earth. This is the same as finding yourself almost a kilometer below the surface of the ocean.

And if the pressure doesn't kill you, then heat and toxic chemicals will certainly do that. Temperatures on Venus can reach 475° C. Thick clouds of sulfur dioxide on Venus create precipitation consisting of sulfuric acid. This is truly a hellish place...

4. Venus rotates in the opposite direction.

While a day on Earth takes only 24 hours, a day on Venus is equal to 243 of our Earth days. But what's even stranger is that Venus rotates in the opposite direction compared to the rest of the planets in the solar system. If you had a chance to look at the planets of the solar system from above, you would see that they all rotate counterclockwise. Except for Venus, which rotates clockwise.

5. Many missions have landed on the surface of Venus.

You probably thought that it would be impossible to land any apparatus on the surface of such a hellish world. And you are partially right. During the space race, the Soviet Union began a series of expeditions to the surface of Venus. But engineers underestimated how terrible the planet's atmosphere was.

The first spaceships were crushed when they entered the atmosphere of Venus. But finally automatic research space station Venera 8 was the first spacecraft to land on the surface of Venus and take and transmit images to Earth. Subsequent missions lasted longer and even returned the first color images of the surface of Venus.

6. People thought that Venus was covered with tropical forests.

Until the USA and the USSR took up the study of Venus by spacecraft, no one really knew what was hiding under the thick clouds of the planet. Science fiction writers have described the planet's surface as a lush tropical jungle. Hellish temperatures and dense atmosphere surprised everyone.

7. Venus has no natural satellites.

Unlike, say, Earth, Venus has no natural satellites. Mars has two, and even Pluto has two. But not Venus.

8. Venus has phases.

Looking at Venus through a telescope, you can see that the planet is in one phase or another, like the Moon. When Venus is closest, it actually appears as a thin crescent moon. As Venus becomes fainter and more distant, you see a larger circle through the telescope.

9. There are several impact craters on the surface of Venus.

While the surfaces of Mercury, Mars and the Moon are littered with impact craters, the surface of Venus has relatively few craters. Experts believe that the surface of Venus is only five hundred million years old. Constant volcanism changes the surface, regularly covering any impact craters.

Venus is the second planet of the solar system. Its neighbors are Mercury and Earth. The planet was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty - Venus. However, it soon turned out that the surface of the planet had nothing in common with beauty.

Knowledge about this celestial body was very scarce until the middle of the 20th century due to dense clouds hiding Venus from the view of telescopes. However, with the development of technical capabilities, humanity has learned many new and interesting facts about this amazing planet. Many of them raised a number of questions that are still unanswered.

Today we will discuss hypotheses that explain why Venus rotates counterclockwise, and tell interesting facts about it that are known to planetary science today.

What do we know about Venus?

In the 60s, scientists still had hope that the conditions on living organisms. These hopes and ideas were embodied in their works by science fiction writers who told about the planet as a tropical paradise.

However, after the spaceships that provided the first insight were sent to the planet, scientists came to disappointing conclusions.

Not only is Venus uninhabitable, it has a very aggressive atmosphere that destroyed the first few spacecraft sent into orbit. But despite the fact that contact with them was lost, the researchers still managed to get an idea of chemical composition atmosphere of the planet and its surface.

Researchers were also interested in the question of why Venus rotates counterclockwise, just like Uranus.

Twin Planet

Today it is known that Venus and Earth are very similar in physical characteristics. Both of them belong to the terrestrial group of planets, like Mars and Mercury. These four planets have few or no satellites and have weak magnetic field and lack a ring system.

Venus and Earth have similar masses and are only slightly smaller than our Earth) and also rotate in similar orbits. However, this is where the similarities end. Otherwise, the planet is in no way similar to Earth.

The atmosphere on Venus is very aggressive and consists of 95% carbon dioxide. The temperature of the planet is absolutely unsuitable for life, as it reaches 475 °C. In addition, the planet has very high pressure (92 times higher than on Earth), which will crush a person if he suddenly decides to walk on its surface. Clouds of sulfur dioxide that create precipitation from sulfuric acid will also destroy all living things. The layer of these clouds reaches 20 km. Despite its poetic name, the planet is a hellish place.

What is the speed of rotation of Venus around its axis? As a result of research, one Venusian day is equal to 243 Earth days. The planet rotates at a speed of only 6.5 km/h (for comparison, the rotation speed of our Earth is 1670 km/h). Moreover, one Venusian year is 224 Earth days.

Why does Venus rotate counterclockwise?

This question has been worrying scientists for decades. However, so far no one has been able to answer it. There have been many hypotheses, but none of them have yet been confirmed. However, we will look at some of the most popular and interesting of them.

The fact is that if you look at the planets of the solar system from above, Venus rotates counterclockwise, while all other celestial bodies (except Uranus) rotate clockwise. These include not only planets, but also asteroids and comets.

When viewed from the north pole, Uranus and Venus rotate clockwise, while all other celestial bodies rotate counterclockwise.

Reasons why Venus rotates counterclockwise

However, what was the reason for such a deviation from the norm? Why does Venus rotate counterclockwise? There are several popular hypotheses.

1. Once upon a time, at the dawn of the formation of our solar system, there were no planets around the Sun. There was only one disk of gas and dust that rotated clockwise, which was eventually transmitted to other planets. A similar rotation was observed in Venus. However, the planet likely soon collided with a huge body that crashed into it against its rotation. Thus space object as if he “launched” the movement of Venus in the opposite direction. Perhaps Mercury is to blame for this. This is one of the most interesting theories that explains several amazing facts. Mercury was probably once a satellite of Venus. However, later he collided with it tangentially, giving Venus part of his mass. He himself flew into a lower orbit around the Sun. That is why its orbit has a curved line, and Venus rotates in the opposite direction.
2. Venus can be rotated by its atmosphere. The width of its layer reaches 20 km. At the same time, its mass is slightly less than that of the Earth. The density of Venus's atmosphere is very high and literally squeezes the planet. Perhaps it is the dense atmosphere that rotates the planet in a different direction, which explains why it rotates so slowly - only 6.5 km/hour.
3. Other scientists, observing how Venus rotates on its axis, came to the conclusion that the planet is turned upside down. It continues to move in the same direction as the other planets, but due to its position it rotates in the opposite direction. Scientists believe that such a phenomenon could be caused by the influence of the Sun, which caused strong gravitational tides in combination with friction between the mantle and the core of Venus itself.

Conclusion

Venus is a planet terrestrial group, unique in nature. The reason why it rotates in the opposite direction is still a mystery to mankind. Perhaps someday we will solve it. For now, we can only make assumptions and hypotheses.

The retrograde movement of celestial bodies is one of the mysteries of the cosmos. Scientists have long known which planet rotates in the opposite direction in the solar system, but scientific debate about why it does this is still going on.

Planets of the Solar System. Credit: Origins.org

How does retrograde rotation occur?

If you look at our system “from above”, from the side of the conventional North Pole, you can see that all bodies move around the central body in one direction. In addition, they all rotate around their axes counterclockwise, but several bodies do this in the opposite direction.

Among them are Venus and Uranus, as well as Pluto, which recently lost its status as a planetary object, its natural moon Charon and the Neptunian satellite Triton. The rotation of these bodies is called retrograde.

At the same time, the direction of Venus’s torsion still coincides with that of the Earth, Mercury and others, but is perceived as inversely directed due to the fact that the planet is practically turned upside down.

There are at least 3 possible reasons why some objects spin retrograde:

• changes in the gravitational field of the planet itself and the effect of gravity of the astronomical bodies surrounding it;
• the influence of powerful solar tides;
• a sharp change in the direction of rotation as a result of collisions with other cosmic elements.

The direction of rotation of planets can be determined in several ways: they are observed through radio telescopes from Earth and from space observatories in orbit, and mathematical calculations are carried out.

Rotation axis tilt

The direction of rotation of the planets is indicated by the tilt of their axes. It is understood as the angle between the conventional line around which its own rotation occurs celestial body, and perpendicular to the ecliptic - the plane along which the circumsolar orbit lies.

If this angle is in the range from -90 to +90°, the planet is considered to have a direct torsion, which coincides with the general direction of rotation of the vast majority of cosmic bodies.

When the angle is in the range of 90-270°, the rotation is retrograde.

The natural moons of planets orbiting the Sun have the same inclination.

Only they operate at a different angle - between the axis of rotation of the satellite and the plane intersecting its host planet along the equator.

What makes Venus spin differently?

Of all the atypically rotating bodies in our system, the second planet from the Sun has been studied the most.

One of the hypotheses explaining the reasons for its retrograde rotation states that at the moment of the formation of solar planetary bodies from a rotating disk of gas and dust, a clot of dust and energy from which Venus was to be born collided with the nascent Mercury, which is why it suddenly began to spin in the opposite direction to the rest of the protoplanets - clockwise.

Another theory suggests the following: the reason why Venus turns retrograde is because its atmosphere is too high and dense - it slows down the rotation, spinning the planet in the opposite direction.

Another interesting version says that the body was turned over by powerful gravitational tides and the resulting friction between the planetary mantle and core, provoked by the influence of the central star.

Perhaps the dense atmosphere causes Venus to rotate in the opposite direction. Credit: V-kosmose.com

The large tilt of Venus's axis, close to 180°, is an obstacle to the change of seasons on the planet - Summer always lasts here. The planet completes a full orbital revolution in 225 Earth days, and its daily rotation takes as long as 243 days. This one has cosmic body The sidereal day lasts longer than the solar year.

"Lying Planet"

If Venus’s axis tilt is 177° and it is “inverted,” then the seventh planet from the Sun with a similar parameter of 98° is called “lying.” “Uranus rotates lying down,” scientists say about it.

There is a peculiar change of seasons, each of which lasts 42 years. At the time of the solstice, winter or summer, one Uranian pole is directed towards the central luminary of our system, and a polar day is observed in the adjacent hemisphere. The opposite region of the celestial body is directed towards trans-Neptunian objects, and the polar night lasts near it.

At the equator at this time there is a rapid change between dark and light time of day. Uranus makes a complete revolution around the Sun in 84 years, and a revolution around its axis in a little more than 17 Earth hours.

Why is Pluto retrograde?

Scientists have reason to believe that Pluto is part of a massive object that disintegrated after an explosion, torn out for some reason from the depths of neighboring Neptune. The second fragment of this body, a larger one, remained in Neptunian orbit, turning into a natural satellite of the planet Triton.

Now he and a smaller piece, which received greater speed and flew away beyond the influence of the “Blue Giant”, becoming the independent dwarf planet Pluto - bodies rotating in one direction, retrograde with respect to their neighbors.

Pluto is the farthest former planet Solar System. Credit: NASA

A day here lasts almost 153 Earth hours, and in terms of the length of a year, this body is the record holder for the part of space we have studied - it is equal to 248 years on our planet.