What prevailing theory suggests the cause for Venus's retrograde rotation?
Answer
A massive, ancient impact struck the planet at just the right angle to reverse its spin.
The leading scientific model explaining the complete reversal of Venus's rotational direction points toward a catastrophic event early in the solar system's history. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that a massive impactor, potentially comparable in size to the object believed to have formed Earth's Moon, collided with Venus. If this collision occurred at a precise angle, the immense energy transfer and resulting momentum change would have been sufficient to completely flip the planet's rotation, resulting in the observed retrograde spin.
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