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It has long been known that Venus and Earth are somehow gravitationally bound.
According to a recent press release, an old theory about the resonant orbits of Venus and Earth has been resurrected. Whenever Venus arrives at its closest approach to Earth, called an inferior conjunction, it always turns the same face toward our planet. The implication of that arrangement is that Earth and its sister planet are exerting some kind of influence on each other. Since there is no other force known to astronomers that can act between planets, that influence must be gravitational.
Venus is actually in near resonance with Earth. In order for an exact orbital resonance to exist, Venus would have to rotate in 243.16 days, but its actual period is 243.01 days. This close alignment suggests that it might be moving out of a resonant pattern that was once more precise.
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