How Long Is a Day on Venus?

Humans would be quite confused if they had to live on Venus. For example, a day on Venus lasts for 5,832 hours. That's the equivalent of 243 Earth days. This surprising statistic is due to the fact that Venus spins much more slowly than Earth– in fact, the slowest of any planet – so it takes much longer for the planet to complete one full rotation. And to further complicate matters, it takes Venus only about 225 Earth days to complete an orbit around the Sun, compared to Earth's 365 days. That means that a year on Venus is actually shorter than a day on Venus.

Take a spin around the solar system:

• Mercury completes a revolution around the Sun in just 88 days, but it takes Mars about 2 years to make the same trip. Farther out in the solar system, a year on Uranus is similar to a human's lifespan – it takes Uranus about 84 Earth years to orbit the Sun.
• Venus spins in the opposite direction of Earth and most of the other planets. This means that on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
• The temperature on Venus – the second planet from the Sun – is the hottest in our solar system, at about 865 degrees Fahrenheit (463 degrees C). That's hot enough to melt a hunk of lead.