A Day on Venus Is LONGER Than Its Year

On Venus, a single day lasts longer than its entire year — and it's not even close.

Earth spins once every 24 hours. Venus takes 243 Earth days to turn just once on its axis — by far the slowest rotation of any planet in the solar system.

And here's the strange part: Venus circles the Sun in only 225 Earth days. So one full spin — one Venusian day — outlasts its own trip around the Sun. The planet rotates so sluggishly that its years tick by faster than its days. Nothing else in the solar system is this far out of step between how fast it turns and how fast it orbits.

But because Venus also spins backwards, sunrise to sunrise actually comes every 117 Earth days — so the Sun rises only about twice in a single Venusian year.

Follow The Cosmic Vault — the universe is stranger than you think.