The planet Venus (see Fig.) moves in a circular orbit around the Sun, completing one revolution every 225 days. Venus also rotates about a polar axis, completing one rotation every 243 days. The sense (direction) of the rotational motion is opposite, but parallel, to that of the orbital motion. (a) Describe a vector that represents the rotation of Venus about its axis. (b) Describe the vector that represents the angular velocity of Venus about the Sun. (c) Describe the resultant angular velocity, obtained by adding the orbital and rotational angular velocities.

It is important to note that the planet Venus must rotate counterclockwise about its own axis. This can be seen from the given picture, the wind running from South and North of Venus towards the equator will lag behind due to the Coriolis force. This results to an arrow like wind pattern towards the East.
Therefore from the effect of Coriolis force, one can conclude that the Venus rotates clockwise and the angular velocity vector must point downward.


It can be seen from the figure that the Venus revolves around the sun in counterclockwise direction. This can be seen from the fact that the rotational motion of Venus is opposite but parallel its orbital motion.