Venus barely spins, but its sky screams at 360 km/h.
The solid body of Venus takes months to rotate, but its upper atmosphere tears around the planet in about four Earth days, with cloud-top winds near 360 km/h. Data from Japan's Akatsuki orbiter suggests heat-driven atmospheric waves keep this 'superrotation' spinning.
Step by step
- The ground below takes months to rotate. The clouds above lap the planet in four days.
- Cloud-top winds hit roughly 360 km/h — about 60 times the speed of the surface below.
- Japan's Akatsuki orbiter traced this 'superrotation' to heat-driven waves pumping the winds.
Source
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