The study found that a single Venusian rotation takes 243.0226 Earth days
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 the 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.
The researchers transmitted radio waves toward Venus 21 times from 2006 to 2020 from NASA’s Goldstone Antenna in the Mojave Desert of California and studied the radio-echo, which provided information on certain planetary traits, at Goldstone and at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.
The new data showed that the Venusian planetary core has a diameter of about 4,360 miles (7,000 km), comparable to Earth’s core. Previous Venus core estimates had been based on computer modeling rather than observational data.
Its core is almost certainly composed of iron and nickel, though it is unclear whether it is solid or molten, Margot said.
Venus spins on its axis almost upright – meaning it lacks discernable seasons – while Earth has more of a tilt. The study calculated the Venusian tilt at about 2.64 degrees. Earth’s is about 23.5 degrees.
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