Retrograde and prograde motion days. Venus probably began with a fast prograde rotation with a period of several hours much like most of the planets in the Solar System. Venus is close enough to the Sun to experience significant gravitational tidal dissipation, and also has a thick enough atmosphere to create thermally driven atmospheric tides that create a retrograde torque. Venus' present slow retrograde rotation is in equilibrium balance between gravitational tides trying to tidally lock Venus to the Sun and atmospheric tides trying to spin Venus in a retrograde direction. In addition to maintaining this present day equilibrium, tides are also sufficient to
Solar rotation and quickly at the equator. This profile extends on roughly radial lines through the solar convection zone to the interior. At the tachocline the rotation abruptly changes to solid-body rotation in the solar radiation zone. Solar rotation Solar rotation varies with latitude because the Sun is composed of a gaseous plasma. The reason why different latitudes rotate at different periods is unknown. The rate of surface rotation is observed to be the fastest at the equator (latitude ) and to decrease as latitude increases. The solar rotation period is 24.47 days at the equator and almost 38 days at the