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[1] [2] The low eccentricity and comparatively small size of its orbit give Venus the least range in distance between perihelion and aphelion of the planets: 1.46 million km. The planet orbits the Sun once every 225 days [3] and travels 4.54 au (679,000,000 km; 422,000,000 mi) in doing so, [4] giving an average orbital speed of 35 km/s (78,000 ...
As it orbits the Sun, Venus displays phases like those of the Moon in a telescopic view. The planet appears as a small and "full" disc when it is on the opposite side of the Sun (at superior conjunction). Venus shows a larger disc and "quarter phase" at its maximum elongations from the Sun, and appears at its brightest in the night sky. The ...
A transit occurs when Venus reaches conjunction with the Sun whilst also passing through the Earth's orbital plane, and passes directly across the face of the Sun. [citation needed] [note 1] Sequences of transits usually repeat every 243 years, after which Venus and Earth have returned to nearly the same point in their respective orbits.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Venus: . Venus – second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has the longest rotation period (243 days) of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets.
In the past, various alternative hypotheses have been proposed to explain Venus's retrograde rotation, such as collisions or it having originally formed that way. [a] Despite being closer to the Sun than Venus, Mercury is not tidally locked because it has entered a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance due to the eccentricity of its orbit.
Venus rotates clockwise, and Uranus has been knocked on its side and rotates almost perpendicular to the rest of the Solar System. The ecliptic remains within 3° of the invariable plane over five million years, [ 2 ] but is now inclined about 23.44° to Earth's celestial equator used for the coordinates of poles.
The orbit of Venus is 224.7 Earth days (7.4 avg. Earth months [30.4 days]). The phases of Venus result from the planet's orbit around the Sun inside the Earth's orbit giving the telescopic observer a sequence of progressive lighting similar in appearance to the Moon's phases. It presents a full image when it is on the opposite side of the Sun.
The elliptical orbits of planets were indicated by calculations of the orbit of Mars. From this, Kepler inferred that other bodies in the Solar System, including those farther away from the Sun, also have elliptical orbits. The second law establishes that when a planet is closer to the Sun, it travels faster.