Venus: where the Sun rises in the west

Curious facts

1. 01

   Its day is longer than its year

   Venus takes 243 Earth days to spin once and only 225 to go around the Sun. It also spins the opposite way to Earth, so there the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east. ¹

2. 02

   Sunrise to sunrise, almost 117 days

   Those 243 days are its spin measured against the stars. Counted from one sunrise to the next, almost 117 Earth days go by on Venus. ²

3. 03

   The clouds outrun the planet

   While the planet takes 243 days to turn, its clouds go all the way around in about 4, with winds measured at up to 360 km/h. ¹

4. 04

   Hotter than Mercury

   Its surface tops 460 °C. It is hotter than Mercury, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun, because its thick atmosphere traps the heat. ²¹