Space6–8 · 9+
A Day on Venus Is Longer Than Its Year
A day on Venus is longer than its whole year!
Why?
A day is how long a planet takes to spin around once. A year is how long it takes to travel all the way around the Sun. Venus spins very, very slowly: it needs about 243 Earth days to spin just once, but only 225 Earth days to go around the Sun. So one day on Venus is longer than its whole year!
Venus is also unusual because it spins the opposite way from Earth. That means on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east!
Try it
Put a chair in the middle of the room: it's the Sun ☀️. Walk slowly around it in a big circle, and while you walk, turn your body around very, very slowly. Did you get back to the start before you finished turning around once? That's how Venus moves!
Ask Mum & Dad
If one day lasted 243 days, what would you do in a single day?