Data obtained by bouncing radio waves off Venus - treating it, as one scientist said, like a giant disco ball - is providing new insight into Earth's closest planetary neighbor, including a precise calculation of the duration of a Venusian day. The study also measured the tilt of the Venusian axis and size of the planet's core, allowing for a deeper understanding of an enigmatic world sometimes called Earth's 'evil twin.' It was already known that Venus has the longest day - the time the planet takes for a single rotation on its axis - of any planet in our solar system, though there were discrepancies among previous estimates. The study found that a single Venusian rotation takes 243.0226 Earth days. That means a day lasts longer than a year on Venus, which makes a complete orbit around the sun in 225 Earth days.

Source: Mint May 04, 2021 08:26 UTC