Venus' orbit

[Guest guest]

Om Krishna Guru,

 

Dear Sanjay and Visti,

 

I received Visti's new book this week and am so delighted with it-- congratulations on such a useful and beautiful work!

 

As my husband is an avid astronomer, I asked him about the statement on page 339 which says that Venus is the only planet whose motion is anti clockwise around the sun.

 

According to modern astonomy, all the planets go the same direction around the sun, but Venus rotates on its axis in the reverse direction of its orbit. It is the only planet to do so. Here's a quote from the web site of the National Weather Service: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/astro/venus.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VENUS

Venus is the second closest planet to our Sun at an average distance 67 million miles. It revolves around the Sun every 225 Earth days, but its rotation takes 243 Earth days. One other interesting note is that Venus rotates clockwise, the only planet in our solar system to do so, and contrary to its own orbit around the Sun. New research suggests that the "backward" rotation is caused by tides which are raised in the thick atmosphere by the Sun, and with friction interaction between the atmosphere and planet itself. It is hypothesized that these interactions caused Venus's rotation to slow, stop, and then reverse. This is somewhat similar to what is happening here on Earth, as our Moon's pull on our oceans causes tides whose subsequent friction is gradually slowing Earth's rotation. Venus is one of only three planets in our solar system which has a perfect circular sphere (the other two being Mercury and Pluto).

 

I would like some clarification if this teaching in Visti's book is from the parampara, and if I'm just misunderstanding it, or any other explanation. It's an important point because it affects whether Venus is combust when retrograde or not.

 

Thanks, and best wishes,

Willa