The question of how old you would be on Venus is determined by orbital mechanics, as a planet’s “age” is calculated by the number of times it completes a revolution around the Sun. Since every planet has a unique path and speed, the length of its year differs across the solar system. Venus, the second planet from the Sun, has the shortest orbital period of all the inner, rocky planets.
The Venus Year Calculating Your Age
A year on Venus is significantly shorter than a year on Earth. The time it takes for Venus to complete one full orbit around the Sun, known as its sidereal year, is approximately 224.7 Earth days. This is only about 61.5% the length of an Earth year.
The calculation to find your age on Venus requires a simple conversion based on the ratio of the orbital periods. You can determine your Venus age by multiplying your current age in Earth years by 365.25 days and then dividing that total by 224.7 days. A simpler method involves dividing your Earth age by 0.615 (the Venus orbital period in Earth years).
For example, a person who is 40 years old on Earth has lived long enough for Venus to have completed about 65 orbits, making them 65 Venus years old. A 30-year-old on Earth would be roughly 48.77 Venus years old, and someone 20 years old would already be over 32 Venus years old. The short Venus year causes every person’s age to be numerically higher when expressed in Venusian terms.
Understanding Venus’s Orbit
The brevity of the Venusian year is a direct consequence of its location, orbiting the Sun at an average distance of about 108 million kilometers. This closer proximity dictates a faster required orbital velocity, a principle described by Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. A planet must travel faster when closer to the star to counteract the stronger gravitational pull and prevent falling into the Sun.
The orbital path of Venus is the most circular of any planet in the solar system, exhibiting almost no eccentricity. This means that Venus’s distance from the Sun does not change much throughout its year, in contrast to the slightly more elliptical orbits of most other planets. The combination of a shorter path and a higher speed results in the short 224.7-day orbital period.
The Surprising Venus Day
While a Venusian year is quick, the planet’s rotation period complicates timekeeping. The time it takes for Venus to rotate once on its axis, known as a sidereal day, is 243 Earth days. This rotation is so slow that the Venusian sidereal day is actually longer than its year, which only lasts 224.7 Earth days.
Furthermore, Venus spins in the opposite direction from most other planets, a movement called retrograde rotation. This backward spin significantly changes the length of the solar day, which is the time from one sunrise to the next. Due to the combined effects of its slow, backward rotation and its fast orbit, a single solar day on Venus lasts about 116.75 Earth days.
This means that the sun would rise and set only about twice during each year you experience. The long solar day results in a cycle where day and night each last almost two Earth months. The concept of a “day” on Venus is therefore entirely different from the terrestrial experience, even as your Venusian age rapidly increases.