Which planet is spinning counterclockwise. Which planet rotates in the opposite direction

Planet Venus interesting facts. Some you may already know, others should be completely new to you. So read and learn new interesting facts about the "morning star".

Earth and Venus are very similar in size and mass, and they orbit the Sun in very similar orbits. Its size is only 650 km smaller than the size of the Earth, and the mass is 81.5% of the mass of the Earth.

But that's where the similarity ends. The atmosphere is made up of 96.5% carbon dioxide, and the greenhouse effect raises the temperature to 461°C.

2. A planet can be so bright that it casts shadows.

Only the Sun and Moon are brighter than Venus. Its brightness can vary from -3.8 to -4.6 magnitudes, but it is always brighter than the brightest stars in the sky.

3. Hostile atmosphere

The mass of the atmosphere is 93 times greater than the Earth's atmosphere. The pressure on the surface is 92 times greater than the pressure on Earth. It is also like diving a kilometer under the surface of the ocean.

4. It rotates in the opposite direction compared to other planets.

Venus rotates very slowly, a day is 243 Earth days. Even stranger is that it rotates in the opposite direction compared to all other planets in the solar system. All planets rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. Except for the heroine of our article. It rotates clockwise.

5. Many spacecraft have managed to land on its surface.

In the midst of the space race, the Soviet Union launched a series of Venus spacecraft and some successfully landed on its surface.

Venera 8 was the first spacecraft to land on the surface and transmit photographs to Earth.

6. People used to think that there are "tropics" on the second planet from the Sun.

While we sent the first spacecraft to study Venus from close range, no one really knew what was hidden below the dense clouds of the planet. Science fiction writers dreamed of lush tropical jungles. The hellish temperature and dense atmosphere surprised everyone.

7. The planet has no satellites.

Venus looks like our twin. Unlike Earth, it has no moons. Mars has moons, and even Pluto has moons. But she... no.

8. The planet has phases.

Although it looks like a very bright star in the sky, if you can look at it with a telescope, you will see something different. When looking at it through a telescope, you can see that the planet goes through phases like the moon. When it is closer, it looks like a thin crescent. And at the maximum distance from the Earth, it becomes dim and in the form of a circle.

9. There are very few craters on its surface.

While the surfaces of Mercury, Mars, and the Moon are littered with impact craters, there are relatively few craters on the surface of Venus. Planetary scientists believe that its surface is only 500 million years old. Constant volcanic activity smoothes and removes any impact craters.

10. The last ship to explore Venus is the Venus Express.

From the course of school astronomy, which is included in the curriculum of geography lessons, we all know about the existence of the solar system and its 8 planets. They "circle" around the Sun, but not everyone knows that there are celestial bodies with retrograde rotation. What planet rotates in the opposite direction? In fact, there are several. These are Venus, Uranus and a recently discovered planet located on the far side of Neptune.

retrograde rotation

The movement of each planet is subject to the same order, and the solar wind, meteorites and asteroids, colliding with it, make it rotate around its axis. However, gravity plays the main role in the movement of celestial bodies. Each of them has its own inclination of the axis and orbit, the change of which affects its rotation. Planets move counterclockwise with an orbital inclination of -90° to 90°, while celestial bodies with an angle of 90° to 180° are referred to as bodies with retrograde rotation.

Axis Tilt

As for the tilt of the axis, for retrogrades this value is 90 ° -270 °. For example, Venus has an axial tilt of 177.36°, which prevents it from moving counterclockwise, and the recently discovered space object Nika has an inclination of 110°. It should be noted that the influence of the mass of a celestial body on its rotation has not been fully studied.

Fixed Mercury

Along with retrograde, there is a planet in the solar system that practically does not rotate - this is Mercury, which has no satellites. The reverse rotation of the planets is not such a rare phenomenon, but most often it occurs outside the solar system. There is no universally accepted model of retrograde rotation today, which enables young astronomers to make amazing discoveries.

Causes of retrograde rotation

There are several reasons why planets change their course of motion:

collision with larger space objects
change in orbital inclination
tilt change
changes in the gravitational field (intervention of asteroids, meteorites, space debris, etc.)

Also, the reason for the retrograde rotation may be the orbit of another cosmic body. There is an opinion that the reason for the reverse motion of Venus could be the solar tides, which slowed down its rotation.

The retrograde movement of celestial bodies is one of the mysteries of the cosmos. Scientists have long known which planet rotates the other way in the solar system, but scientific debate about why it does this is still going on.

Planets of the solar system. Credit: origins.org

How does retrograde rotation happen?

If you look at our system "from above", from the side of the conditional North Pole of the world, you can see that all bodies move around the central luminary in one direction. In addition, they all rotate counterclockwise around their axes, but a few bodies do it in the opposite direction.

Among them are Venus and Uranus, as well as Pluto, which has recently lost the status of a planetary object, its natural moon Charon and the Neptunian satellite Triton. The rotation of these bodies is called retrograde.

At the same time, the direction of rotation of Venus still coincides with the Earth, Mercury and others, but is perceived as backward due to the fact that the planet is practically turned “upside down”.

There are at least 3 possible reasons why some objects spin retrograde:

change in the gravitational field of the planet itself and the effect of gravity of the astronomical bodies surrounding it;
the influence of powerful solar tides;
a sharp change in the direction of rotation as a result of collisions with other space elements.

There are several ways to determine the direction of rotation of the planets: they are observed in radio telescopes from the Earth and from space observatories in orbit, and mathematical calculations are carried out.

Tilt axis of rotation

The direction of rotation of the planets is indicated by the tilt of their axes. It is understood as the angle between the conditional line around which the own rotation of the celestial body occurs, and the perpendicular to the ecliptic - the plane along which the circumsolar orbit runs.

If this angle is in the range from -90 to +90°, it is considered that the planet has direct torsion, which coincides with the general direction of rotation of the vast majority of space bodies.

When the angle value is in the range of 90-270°, the rotation is retrograde.

The natural moons of the planets revolving around the Sun have the same slope.

Only they operate with a different angle - between the axis of rotation of the satellite and the plane crossing its host planet along the equatorial line.

What makes Venus rotate differently

Of all the atypically spinning bodies of our system, the second planet from the Sun has been studied the most.

One of the hypotheses explaining the reasons for its retrograde rotation says that at the moment of the formation of solar planetary bodies from a rotating gas and dust disk, a clot of dust and energy from which Venus was to be born collided with the birth of Mercury, which is why it suddenly began to spin in the direction opposite to the rest of the protoplanets - clockwise.

Another theory suggests the following: the culprit of the fact that Venus turns retrograde was its too high and dense atmosphere - it slows down the rotation, spinning the planet in the opposite direction.

Another interesting version says that the body was turned over by powerful gravitational tides provoked by the influence of the central star and the friction between the planetary mantle and the core caused by them.

Perhaps the thick atmosphere is causing Venus to rotate in the opposite direction. Credit: V-cosmose.com

The large tilt of the axis of Venus, close to 180 °, is an obstacle to the change of seasons on the planet - summer is here all the time. The planet makes a complete orbital revolution in 225 Earth days, a daily rotation takes as much as 243 days. In this cosmic body, the sidereal day lasts longer than the solar year.

"Lying Planet"

If the tilt of the axis of Venus is 177 ° and it is “inverted”, then the seventh planet from the Sun with a similar parameter of 98 ° is called “lying”. “Uranus rotates lying down,” scientists say about it.

There is a peculiar change of seasons, each of which lasts for 42 years. At the time of the solstice, winter or summer, one Uranian pole is directed at the central luminary of our system, and a polar day is observed in the hemisphere adjacent to it. The opposite region of the celestial body is directed towards trans-Neptunian objects, and the polar night lasts around it.

At the equator at this time there is a rapid change of dark and daylight hours. Uranus makes a full revolution around the Sun in 84 years, a revolution around its axis - a little more than 17 Earth hours.

Why is Pluto retrograde

Scientists have reason to believe that Pluto is part of a massive object that disintegrated after the explosion, pulled out for some reason from the bowels of neighboring Neptune. The second fragment of this body, a larger one, remained in Neptunian orbit, becoming a natural satellite of the planet Triton.

Now he and a smaller piece, which received greater speed and flew away beyond the influence of the "Blue Giant", became an independent dwarf planet Pluto - bodies rotating in the same direction, retrograde with respect to their neighbors.

Pluto is the most distant former planet in the solar system. Credit: NASA

A day here lasts almost 153 Earth hours, and in terms of the length of the year, this body holds the record for the part of space we have studied - it is equal to 248 years on our planet.

Earth and Venus are similar in size and mass. In addition, they revolve around the Sun in very similar orbits. The size of Venus is only 650 km smaller than the size of the Earth. The mass of Venus is 81.5% of the mass of the Earth.

But that's where the similarities end. The atmosphere of Venus consists of 96.5% carbon dioxide (CO2), the temperature on the planet is absolutely unsuitable for flora and fauna, because it reaches 475 ° C. There is also very high pressure on Venus, which will crush you if you suddenly want to walk on the surface of this planet.

2. Venus is so bright that it can cast shadows.

Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in the night sky by their magnitude. Only the Sun and Moon are brighter than Venus. Its brightness can range between -3.8 and -4.6, but what is obvious is that it is always brighter than any of the brightest stars in the sky.

Venus can be so bright that it can actually cause shadows. Wait for a dark night when there is no moon in the sky and check it out for yourself.

3. The atmosphere of Venus is extremely hostile.

Although Venus is similar to Earth in size and mass, its atmosphere is unique in its own way. The mass of the atmosphere is 93 times greater than the mass of the Earth's atmosphere. If you suddenly found yourself on the surface of Venus, you would experience 92 times the pressure relative to the pressure that acts on you on Earth. This is the same as finding yourself almost a kilometer under the surface of the ocean.

And if pressure doesn't kill you, heat and toxic chemicals will certainly do. Temperatures on Venus can reach up to 475°C. Thick clouds of sulfur dioxide on Venus produce precipitation composed of sulfuric acid. It really is a hell of a place...

4. Venus rotates in the opposite direction.

While a day on Earth takes only 24 hours, a day on Venus is equal to 243 of our Earth days. But even stranger, Venus rotates in the opposite direction compared to the rest of the planets in the solar system. If you had a chance to look at the planets of the solar system from above, you would see that they all rotate counterclockwise. Except for Venus, which rotates clockwise.

5. Many missions have landed on the surface of Venus.

You probably thought that it would be impossible to land any apparatus on the surface of such a hellish world. And you are partially right. During the space race, the Soviet Union launched a series of expeditions to the surface of Venus. But engineers underestimated how terrible the planet's atmosphere is.

The first spaceships were crushed as they entered the atmosphere of Venus. But finally, the automatic research space station Venera-8 became the first spacecraft that could get to the surface of Venus, take and transmit images to Earth. Subsequent missions lasted longer, and even transmitted the first color images of the surface of Venus.

6. People thought that Venus was covered with tropical forests.

Until the US and the USSR began to explore Venus through spacecraft, no one really knew what was hidden under the dense clouds of the planet. Science fiction writers have described the planet's surface as a lush tropical jungle. The hellish temperatures and dense atmosphere surprised everyone.

7. Venus has no natural satellites.

Unlike, say, Earth, Venus has no natural satellites. Mars has two, and even Pluto has. But not for Venus.

8. Venus has phases.

Looking at Venus through a telescope, you can see that the planet is in one phase or another, like the Moon. When Venus is at its closest, it actually looks like a thin crescent. As Venus grows fainter and more distant, you see a larger circle through the telescope.

9. There are several impact craters on the surface of Venus.

While the surface of Mercury, Mars and the Moon is littered with impact craters, there are relatively few craters on the surface of Venus. Experts believe that the surface of Venus is only five hundred million years old. Constant volcanism changes the surface, regularly covering any impact craters.

Venus is the second planet of the solar system. Its neighbors are Mercury and Earth. The planet was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty - Venus. However, it soon turned out that the surface of the planet had nothing to do with the beautiful.

Knowledge about this celestial body was very scarce until the middle of the 20th century due to dense clouds hiding Venus from the view of telescopes. However, with the development of technical capabilities, mankind has learned many new and interesting facts about this amazing planet. Many of them raised a number of questions that are still unanswered.

Today we will discuss the hypotheses that explain why Venus rotates counterclockwise, and we will tell interesting facts about it, known to planetology today.

What do we know about Venus?

In the 60s, scientists still had a glimmer of hope that the conditions for living organisms. These hopes and ideas were embodied in their works by science fiction writers who described the planet as a tropical paradise.

However, after the spacecraft were sent to the planet, which provided the first idea about the scientists, they came to disappointing conclusions.

Venus is not only uninhabitable, it has a very corrosive atmosphere that destroyed several of the first spacecraft sent into its orbit. But despite the fact that communication with them was lost, the researchers still managed to get an idea of the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere and its surface.

Also, researchers were interested in the question of why Venus rotates counterclockwise, just like Uranus.

twin planet

Today it is known that Venus and the Earth are very similar in physical characteristics. Both of them belong to the terrestrial group of planets, like Mars and Mercury. These four planets have few or no moons, weak magnetic fields, and no ring systems.

Venus and the Earth have a similar mass and are only slightly inferior to our Earth), and also rotate in similar orbits. However, this is where the similarity ends. The rest of the planet is in no way similar to Earth.

The atmosphere on Venus is very aggressive and consists of 95% carbon dioxide. The temperature of the planet is absolutely unsuitable for life, as it reaches 475 ° C. In addition, the planet has very high pressure (92 times higher than on Earth), which will crush a person if he suddenly decides to walk on its surface. Destroy all living things and clouds of sulfur dioxide, creating precipitation from sulfuric acid. The layer of these clouds reaches 20 km. Despite its poetic name, the planet is a hellish place.

What is the rotational speed of Venus on its axis? As it turned out as a result of research, one Venusian day is equal to 243 Earth days. The planet rotates at a speed of only 6.5 km / h (for comparison, the rotation speed of our Earth is 1670 km / h). At the same time, one Venusian year is 224 Earth days.

Why does Venus rotate counterclockwise?

This question has been troubling scientists for more than a decade. However, no one has been able to answer it so far. There have been many hypotheses, but none of them has yet been confirmed. Nevertheless, we will consider some of the most popular and interesting ones.

The fact is that if you look at the planets of the solar system from above, Venus rotates counterclockwise, while all other celestial bodies (except Uranus) rotate clockwise. These include not only planets, but also asteroids and comets.

When viewed from the north pole, Uranus and Venus rotate clockwise, and all other celestial bodies - against it.

Reasons why Venus rotates counterclockwise

However, what caused this deviation from the norm? Why does Venus rotate counterclockwise? There are several popular hypotheses.

Once upon a time, at the dawn of the formation of our solar system, there were no planets around the Sun. There was only one disk of gas and dust, which rotated clockwise, which over time was transferred to other planets. A similar rotation was observed for Venus. However, soon the planet likely collided with a huge body that crashed into it against its rotation. Thus, the space object seemed to "launch" the movement of Venus in the opposite direction. Maybe Mercury is to blame. This is one of the most interesting theories that explains several amazing facts at once. Mercury was once a satellite of Venus. However, later he collided with her on a tangent, giving Venus part of his mass. He himself flew into a lower orbit around the Sun. That is why its orbit has a curved line, and Venus rotates in the opposite direction.
Venus can be rotated by the atmosphere. The width of its layer reaches 20 km. Moreover, its mass is slightly less than the earth. The density of the atmosphere of Venus is very high and literally squeezes the planet. Perhaps it is the dense atmosphere that rotates the planet in a different direction, which explains why it rotates so slowly - only 6.5 km / h.
Other scientists, observing how Venus rotates around its axis, have come to the conclusion that the planet is turned upside down. It continues to move in the same direction as the other planets, however, due to its position, it rotates in the opposite direction. Scientists believe that this phenomenon could be caused by the influence of the Sun, which caused strong gravitational tides, combined with friction between the mantle and the core of Venus itself.

Conclusion

Venus is a terrestrial planet, unique in nature. The reason why it rotates in the opposite direction is still a mystery to mankind. Maybe someday we'll figure it out. In the meantime, we can only build assumptions and hypotheses.