Venus Orbit Semi-Major Axis

aVenus=1.0821×1011 ma_{\mathrm{Venus}} = 1.0821 \times 10^{11}\ \text{m}
Value1.0821e11 m
StatusConventional / typical value
SourceNASA NSSDC Planetary Fact Sheet, Venus (semimajor axis)
CategoriesAstronomicalsolar-systemplanets
Venus Orbit Semi-Major Axis in every length unit
Planck length6.6951069e+45 lP
femtometer1.0821000e+26 fm
picometer1.0821000e+23 pm
bohr radius2.0448726e+21 a0
angstrom1.0821000e+21 Å
nanometer1.0821000e+20 nm
micrometer1.0821000e+17 μm
thou4.2602362e+15 thou
point306,737,010,000,000 pt
millimeter108,210,000,000,000 mm
pica25,561,417,000,000 pc
centimeter10,821,000,000,000 cm
inch4,260,236,200,000 in
decimeter1,082,100,000,000 dm
hand1,065,059,100,000 hh
link537,908,610,000 li
foot355,019,690,000 ft
US survey foot355,018,980,000 ftUS
yard118,339,900,000 yd
meter108,210,000,000 m
fathom59,169,948,000 ftm
rod21,516,345,000 rd
chain5,379,086,100 ch
cable length584,287,260 cb
furlong537,908,610 fur
kilometer108,210,000 km
mile67,238,577 mi
nautical mile58,428,726 nmi
league22,412,859 lea
megameter108,210 Mm
Earth radius16,984.775 REarth
light-second360.94971 ls
lunar distance281.50437 LD
solar radius155.54118 Rsun
light-minute6.0158285 lmin
astronomical unit0.72333917 AU
light-year0.000011437806 ly
parsec0.0000035068473 pc
kiloparsec3.5068473e-09 kpc
megaparsec3.5068473e-12 Mpc
gigaparsec3.5068473e-15 Gpc

Learning zone

Venus's orbit is the roundest in the solar system — eccentricity 0.0068, forty times more circular than Mercury's — so its semi-major axis really is its distance from the Sun, varying by barely one per cent around the year. At 0.723 au it receives 1.9 times Earth's sunlight, which is not why the surface is hot: the clouds reflect three quarters of it straight back, and Venus actually absorbs less solar energy than Earth does. The 737 K surface is entirely the greenhouse effect's work.

The distance also makes Venus our closest planetary neighbour at inferior conjunction, about 41 million km away, and sets the 584-day rhythm of its apparitions as morning and evening star. The Mayans tabulated that cycle to a day; Galileo's observation that Venus shows a full set of phases proved it circles the Sun and not the Earth.