  E.V. Pitjeva, by processing more than 400,000 planetary observations of
various types with the dynamical models of the EPM2006 ephemerides, recently
estimated a correction to the canonical Newtonian-Einsteinian Venus' perihelion
precession of -0.0004 +/- 0.0001 arcseconds per century. The prediction of
general relativity for the Lense-Thirring precession of the perihelion of Venus
is -0.0003 arcseconds per century. It turns out that neither other
mismodelld/unmodelled standard Newtonian/Einsteinian effects nor exotic ones,
postulated to, e.g., explain the Pioneer anomaly, may have caused the
determined extra-precession of the Venus orbit which, thus, can be reasonably
attributed to the gravitomagnetic field of the Sun, not modelled in the
routines of the EPM2006 ephemerides. However, it must be noted that the quoted
error is the formal, statistical one; the realistic uncertainty might be
larger. Future improvements of the inner planets' ephemerides, with the
inclusion of the Messenger and Venus-Express tracking data, should further
improve the accuracy and the consistency of such a test of general relativity
which would also benefit of the independent estimation of the extra-precessions
of the perihelia (and the nodes) by other teams of astronomers.
