{"id":115720,"date":"2026-09-16T15:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=115720"},"modified":"2026-09-16T15:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:08:23","slug":"does-venus-have-a-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/bible-resources\/bible-and-science\/does-venus-have-a-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Venus Have a Moon? It May Have Swallowed Its Own"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>8 Minute, 50 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><p>Does Venus have a moon? No. Look at every planet in our solar system and only two have none at all: Mercury and Venus.<\/p>\n\n<p>Mercury is small and sits right next to the Sun, so that one is not much of a puzzle. Venus is different. It is almost the same size as Earth. Earth has a big moon. So why does Venus have nothing?<\/p>\n\n<p>A new study offers an answer that is stranger than &#8220;it never had one.&#8221; Venus may have had a moon once. And the planet itself may have slowly pulled it down until it crashed.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Does Venus Have a Moon? What the New Study Found<\/h2>\n\n<p>The study was led by Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside. It was published in <em>The Astrophysical Journal<\/em> in September 2026.<\/p>\n\n<p>Kane built computer models of how a planet and a moon tug on each other over time. Before trying Venus, he checked the model on a system we can actually measure: Earth and our own Moon. Then he ran it for Venus, testing make-believe moons from half the mass of our Moon up to ten times its mass.<\/p>\n\n<p>The result kept coming out the same way. The moons did not drift off. They spiralled inward, closer and closer, until they hit the planet. The bigger the moon, the faster it fell.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;If it had a moon, and it likely did at some point, it could not have kept it,&#8221; Kane said. &#8220;That moon would have crashed down on the planet in a relatively short time scale.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"convertkit-form wp-block-convertkit-form\" style=\"\"><script async data-uid=\"6491fb8269\" src=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.kit.com\/6491fb8269\/index.js\" data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" data-no-defer=\"1\" data-no-optimize=\"1\" nowprocket><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<h2>Why Venus Could Not Keep a Moon<\/h2>\n\n<p>The answer is Venus&#8217;s spin. And Venus spins very, very slowly.<\/p>\n\n<p>Earth turns all the way around once a day. Venus takes 243 Earth days to turn around once. It also goes around the Sun in about 225 Earth days. That means a single day on Venus is longer than its whole year. It even spins backwards compared to most of the planets.<\/p>\n\n<p>Here is why the spin matters. A moon&#8217;s gravity pulls on its planet and raises a small bulge, the same way our Moon helps raise the tides in Earth&#8217;s oceans. If the planet spins fast, that bulge gets carried out ahead of the moon. The bulge then tugs the moon forward, like a gentle push from behind, and the moon slowly climbs away.<\/p>\n\n<p>If the planet spins slowly, the bulge falls behind the moon instead. Now the tug pulls the moon backward. It loses speed, and a moon that loses speed drops lower. Round after round, it sinks, until there is nowhere left to sink.<\/p>\n\n<p>For a long time, the main ideas were that Venus either never got a moon in the first place, or lost one in some huge crash with another object. Kane&#8217;s work says no disaster was needed. &#8220;My study shows Venus didn&#8217;t require a catastrophe,&#8221; he said. In his words, &#8220;the gravity of the planet itself combined with the rate at which it spins naturally caused the moon to collapse on top of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<h2>What the Study Does Not Prove<\/h2>\n\n<p>This part matters, so it is worth saying plainly. The study does not prove Venus ever had a moon.<\/p>\n\n<p>It shows what would have happened to one if it did. That is a real finding, but it is a &#8220;what if&#8221; finding. Nobody has found the wreckage.<\/p>\n\n<p>And finding it would be hard. Most of Venus&#8217;s surface is roughly the same age, because the planet was covered over long ago by a huge wave of resurfacing that erased much of what came before. If a moon did fall, the study suggests it probably happened early, within Venus&#8217;s first billion years or so. Any scar from that crash may simply be buried. Deep measurements on Venus could, in theory, turn up clues one day.<\/p>\n\n<p>A crash like that could also have changed Venus itself: its spin, its rocks, maybe even its climate. Venus today is a scorching, crushing place. We do not know if a lost moon played any part in how it got that way. We also recently looked at another surprise hiding under Venus&#8217;s calm-looking clouds, the finding that <a href=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/bgodinspired-news\/bgodinspired-science-news\/venus-tearing-itself-apart-from-inside\/\">Venus may be tearing itself apart from the inside<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Why Earth&#8217;s Moon Survived<\/h2>\n\n<p>Now turn the whole thing around, because it explains the Moon you can see tonight.<\/p>\n\n<p>Earth spins fast. So the bulge our Moon raises gets carried out ahead of it, and that bulge keeps nudging the Moon forward. The result is that our Moon is slowly moving away from us, about 4 centimetres a year. That is roughly as fast as your fingernails grow.<\/p>\n\n<p>We do not have to guess at that number. When astronauts walked on the Moon, they left special mirrors behind. Scientists on Earth still fire lasers at those mirrors and time how long the light takes to bounce back. That is how we know the Moon is a little farther away every year.<\/p>\n\n<p>Earth pays for this, too. As the Moon is nudged outward, Earth&#8217;s own spin is very slowly braked, and our days get a tiny bit longer over the centuries. The Moon gets room. Earth gives up a little speed to give it.<\/p>\n\n<p>So here is the surprising picture. Venus&#8217;s moon, if it existed, was lost because its planet&#8217;s pull only ever drew it closer. Our Moon is still here because Earth&#8217;s pull holds it and gives it room at the same time.<\/p>\n\n<h2>The Kind of Hold That Keeps<\/h2>\n\n<p>Most of us picture keeping something as holding on tight. The tighter the grip, the safer it is.<\/p>\n\n<p>The Moon does not work that way. A pull that only draws something in, closer and closer, eventually crushes it. The pull that keeps our Moon in the sky is steady and real, every second of every day, and it also leaves room to move.<\/p>\n\n<p>People have always looked up at the Moon and seen something faithful in it. One ancient song about God&#8217;s promises points straight at the Moon and calls it a faithful witness in the sky, something set in place and kept there. The writer had no idea the Moon was drifting a few centimetres a year. But the picture may work even better now that we know. Faithfulness that looks like the Moon is not the kind that never lets you move. It is the kind that holds you across every bit of distance, and does not let go.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you have ever wondered how big and how old all of this really is, our free <a href=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/how-old-is-the-universe\/\">How Old Is the Universe? explorer<\/a> is a good place to lose half an hour.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Still There Tonight<\/h2>\n\n<p>Next time the Moon is up, it will be a tiny bit farther away than it was this time last year. You will not be able to tell. It will look exactly the same, rising on schedule, the way it has over every night of human history.<\/p>\n\n<p>Venus, the bright &#8220;evening star&#8221; you may spot low in the sky after sunset, will be there too, alone. Maybe it always was. Or maybe, a very long time ago, it had company and could not keep it.<\/p>\n\n<p>Either way, the Moon over your house is still there. And humans are still trying to reach it. NASA is planning <a href=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/nature-and-creation\/nasa-moon-landings-permanent-home\/\">a long run of robotic Moon landings before anyone tries to live there<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2>What Do You Think?<\/h2>\n\n<p>Do you think Venus really had a moon that it lost, or do you think it probably never had one at all? Tell us which way you lean, and why, in the comments below.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"convertkit-form wp-block-convertkit-form\" style=\"\"><script async data-uid=\"6491fb8269\" src=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.kit.com\/6491fb8269\/index.js\" data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" data-no-defer=\"1\" data-no-optimize=\"1\" nowprocket><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<h2>Share This<\/h2>\n\n<p>&#8220;Only two planets have no moon: Mercury and Venus. A new study says Venus may have had one, and its own slow spin pulled it down until it crashed. https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=115720&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;A day on Venus is longer than its year. That super-slow spin may be exactly why Venus lost its moon, while Earth&#8217;s fast spin lets ours drift away and survive. https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=115720&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Our Moon moves about 4 cm farther from Earth every year, and that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s still here. Venus&#8217;s moon may have gone the other way. Wild bit of science: https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=115720&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<h2>Questions People Ask About Venus and Its Moon<\/h2>\n\n<h3>Does Venus have a moon?<\/h3>\n\n<p>No. Venus has no moon. Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system without any natural moons. A study by UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane, published in The Astrophysical Journal in September 2026, suggests Venus may once have had a moon that was pulled inward and crashed into the planet, though the study does not prove such a moon existed.<\/p>\n\n<h3>Why doesn&#8217;t Venus have a moon?<\/h3>\n\n<p>Venus may not have a moon because it spins extremely slowly, taking 243 Earth days to rotate once. Computer simulations published in 2026 by astrophysicist Stephen Kane found that a slowly spinning planet&#8217;s tidal pull drags a moon backward, so the moon loses speed and spirals inward until it hits the planet. Larger moons fell faster. Earlier ideas were that Venus never gained a moon or lost one in a giant impact.<\/p>\n\n<h3>Why is Earth&#8217;s Moon moving away from Earth?<\/h3>\n\n<p>Earth&#8217;s Moon is moving away from Earth at about 4 centimetres per year because Earth spins faster than the Moon orbits. The Moon&#8217;s gravity raises a tidal bulge on Earth, and Earth&#8217;s fast rotation carries that bulge ahead of the Moon, where it tugs the Moon forward into a slightly higher orbit. Scientists measure the drift by bouncing lasers off mirrors that astronauts left on the Moon&#8217;s surface. The same process very slowly lengthens Earth&#8217;s day.<\/p>\n\n<h3>Could Venus have had a moon that crashed into it?<\/h3>\n\n<p>It is possible, but not proven. A 2026 study in The Astrophysical Journal modelled hypothetical moons around Venus ranging from half to ten times the mass of Earth&#8217;s Moon and found they spiralled inward and collided with the planet. Direct evidence would be difficult to find because most of Venus&#8217;s surface was resurfaced long ago, which may have erased any crash site.<\/p>\n\n<h3>Is a day on Venus longer than a year on Venus?<\/h3>\n\n<p>Yes. Venus takes about 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis but only about 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun, so a single rotation of Venus lasts longer than its year. Venus also rotates in the opposite direction to most planets in the solar system. 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No. A new study says its slow spin may have pulled one in until it crashed. Here is why Earth&#8217;s moon drifts away and survives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226,3550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bgodinspired-science-news","category-bible-and-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115721,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115720\/revisions\/115721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}