Rogue planet in the solar system: what makes Venus spin backwards?

A mystery in space

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Venus, the second-closest planet to the Sun in our solar system, is often called Earth's "twin." But one of Venus's most notable peculiarities is its rotation, which is in the opposite direction to most other planets.

The fundamental peculiarities of Venus

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Venus’s retrograde rotation has intrigued scientists for decades. Still, it is not the only weird and unique characteristic of Venus, and, more recently, researchers are beginning to link other peculiarities to the planet.

A slow, retrograde rotation

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Venus, the brightest planet in our Solar System, also rotates extremely slowly: according to NASA, one day lasts about 243 Earth days, longer than its year, about 225 Earth days.

One Day on Venus, 243 Days on Earth

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Scientific American cited experts who said the planet's very long day is due to the strong gravitational attraction that the Sun exerts on it.

The sun rises in the west

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Unlike on Earth, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east on Venus. Because of the planet's extremely slow rotation, the time between sunrise and sunset would be a whopping 117 Earth days, according to NASA.

Why does Venus rotate in the opposite direction?

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Scientists are unsure why Venus rotates in the opposite direction or how it started. However, various teams of researchers have put forward some hypotheses.

It wasn't like this originally

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According to Scientific American, researchers from the French research institute Astronomie et Systemes Dynamiques suggested Venus initially rotated in the same direction as the other planets, until its axis flipped 180 degrees.

Powerful internal forces

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The planet's axis reversal could have occurred as a result of powerful atmospheric tides generated by the planet's dense atmosphere and the Sun's strong gravitational pull.

Venus could be upside down

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Venus would then rotate in the same direction as before, but "upside down," giving the impression of rotating in the opposite direction from the other planets' perspectives.

Credit: WikiImages from Pixabay

Slowing down until going in reverse

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A 2001 study, published in Nature, has a different theory. The authors believe that Venus' strong tides slowed the planet's rotation so much that it started reversing without the planet flipping upside down.

Credit: WikiImages from Pixabay

Another hypothesis

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A more recent study by Stephen R. Kane, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside, published in Nature, shows Venus's dense atmosphere may be behind the planet's extremely slow, retrograde rotation.

Credit: Bruno Albino from Pixabay

Overlooking atmospheres

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“We think of the atmosphere as a thin, almost separate layer on top of a planet that has minimal interaction with the solid planet,” Mr. Kane told Science Daily.

The atmosphere influences the rotation

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According to Kane, Venus's dense carbon dioxide atmosphere, combined with high-speed winds, causes the atmospheric pressure to be much higher than Earth's, thus influencing its rotation dynamics.

An "integrated part"

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"Venus's powerful atmosphere teaches us that it is a much more integrated part of the planet, capable of influencing everything, even the shape in which the planet rotates," Kane explained, according to a quote cited by Gizmodo magazine.

Understanding our universe

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The retrograde rotation of Venus is not only one of the many astronomical mysteries of the planet, but also contributes significantly to our understanding of the dynamics and evolution of terrestrial planets.

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