Venus spins backwards compared with Earth and most planets

From above the Sun’s north pole, Earth and most planets spin counterclockwise, but Venus rotates clockwise — a retrograde spin that makes the Sun rise in the west and set in the east on its surface.

The odd turn may trace to a giant early impact, tidal locking struggles with the Sun, or chaotic spin evolution in a thick atmosphere. Whatever the cause, Venus’s day is longer than its year and runs against the solar system’s common grain.

Spin direction is not destiny written once. Venus shows a neighboring world can flip its clock, rewriting sunrise, weather patterns, and how we time missions that enter its crushing air.