A DAY AND A YEAR ON VENUS

If we lived on Venus, a day would be strange indeed. Venus rotates on its axis the opposite direction of the Earth. This means that on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east! And it is a very long day, equal to 243 Earth days!

Stranger still is the fact that a day on Venus is longer than a year! It's orbital period around the Sun is only 225 days. According to the Venusian calendar, WW II ended only 56 days ago!

Venus is one of only two planets that rotate the opposite direction, called retrograde motion. There are several theories why Venus rotates this way. Both involve collision in Venus' past that altered the rotation of the planet.