How Far Away is Venus From the Sun
Just like the rest of the planets in the Solar System, Venus has an elliptical orbit. But it actually has an orbit that's almost circular. In fact, it's the most circular orbit in the entire Solar System.
This is important. For most of the planets, their eccentricity makes a huge factor when calculating the distance of the planet from the Sun. In the case of Venus, this eccentricity is less than 0.01.
At its closest point to the Sun - which astronomers call perihelion - Venus gets to 107 million km from the Sun, or 0.718 astronomical units (1 AU is the same as the average distance from the Earth to the Sun.
At its most distant point - or aphelion - Venus is 109 million km (0.728 AU).
In addition to its nearly circular orbit, Venus is unique for another reason: it rotates backwards (or in a retrograde direction). If you could look down at the Solar System from above, all of the planets orbit in a clockwise direction. But Venus rotates in a counter-clockwise direction.
Filed under: Astronomy
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