Question

Why does Venus show phases like the moon?
A. It rotates from East to West
B. It is covered by clouds
C. Its atmosphere is dense
D. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint:The moon’s phases form from the relative positions of Earth, Moon and Sun. Venus is a planet before Earth and nearer to the Sun. Just like the moon, Venus also rotates from East to West.

Complete step by step answer:
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and it is before Earth.The orbit of Venus is 224.7 Earth days and rotates in the opposite direction with Earth. The orbit of Venus is inside of the Earth’s orbit. So, when Venus faces the Sun its half hemisphere is exposed to the sun and only the other half is visible from Earth through a telescope. When an object is nearly between the Earth and the Sun, the sun facing hemisphere points away from us and we see only a thin crescent, which appears as a new moon or a new Venus.To have a full appearance of a planet from Earth, the planet must situate on the far side of the Sun.We can't see the shadow on planets that don't pass between the Earth and the Sun because we can't view the ‘dark' side that faces away from the Sun. This phenomenon is just like seeing the phases of the Moon.Therefore, the phases of Venus are similar to the Moon because Venus rotates from East to West opposite of Earth.
The answer is Option A.

Note:For a body in space to have a solar shadow, it must pass between the observer and the Sun. On Earth, only objects passing between us and the Sun have phases.