What is Venus's average distance from the Sun in astronomical units?

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Venus’s average distance from the Sun is about 0.72 astronomical units (AU). An astronomical unit is the average Earth–Sun distance, about 149.6 million kilometres, so Venus orbits roughly 108.2 million kilometres from the Sun on average.

That figure is Venus’s semimajor axis, the midpoint of its slightly elliptical orbit. Venus reaches about 0.718 AU at perihelion and about 0.728 AU at aphelion, a remarkably small range compared with most planetary orbits. Its orbital period is about 224.7 Earth days.

A common mix-up is confusing Venus’s solar distance with another planet’s. Mercury averages about 0.39 AU, Earth 1.00 AU, and Mars 1.52 AU. Venus therefore lies between Mercury and Earth, receiving substantially more sunlight than Earth.

Although Venus is Earth’s nearest planetary neighbour at close approach, 0.72 AU describes its distance from the Sun, not its distance from Earth. The two planets can approach to roughly 40 million kilometres, but their separation changes continually as both orbit the Sun.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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