Although Venus is sometimes called “Earth’s twin” because of its size and density, it is actually very different from our planet. If you’re lucky enough to survive a day on Venus, which has a surface air pressure of more than 90 times Earth’s, you’ll see the Sun rise in the west and set in the east, the opposite of what you’re used to. But you would have to stay on the planet for a very long time to witness it, because a Venusian day is 243 Earth days, slightly longer than its year, which takes 225 Earth days. Of course, during this time you need to have a very good defense not to be crushed and burned under tremendous pressure and temperatures of 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480 degrees Celsius).
As for why the sun rises from the west, first of all, we need to state that this shouldn’t happen. It is believed that the reason for the rotation of the planets is due to a swirling cloud of gas. Venus and a sideways rotating Uranus are thought to have changed after this initial formation.
In the case of Uranus, the reason is relatively simple. At some point in the planet’s past, Uranus collided with a large object or several smaller objects, causing it to spin in an oblique turn that we see today.
But why does Venus reverse? In fact, the same thing may have happened to him with Uranus. One or more of the objects may have struck the planet, causing it to reverse completely, or an impact may have reversed the planet’s rotation by slowing it down completely.
However, there is a slightly more complex theory. According to this theory, the fast-moving atmosphere interacting with the planet’s surface may have changed the speed and rotation of the planet.
“We think of the atmosphere as a thin, almost separate layer above a planet with minimal interaction with the solid planet,” University of California Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane said in an April 2022 press release. In one article, he argued that Venus could be used as a useful analogue for tidally-locked exoplanets, and that without the planet’s fast, soupy atmosphere, the Moon would be tidally locked to the Sun, just as it would to Earth.
Instead, the atmosphere’s interaction with the planet allows it to spin, albeit slowly, which may explain the increased spin rate observed since its discovery.
“Venus’s powerful atmosphere teaches us that it’s a much more integrated part of the planet that affects absolutely everything, including how fast the planet spins,” says Kane.
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