I had to read their sentence like 5 times to get it as well. .42AU is a larger distance than the closest that Earth and Venus ever get to each other (i.e. clos

I had to read their sentence like 5 times to get it as well. .42AU is a larger distance than the closest that Earth and Venus ever get to each other (i.e. closest than as close as it is possible for Venus to be, with the word "can" being used in this meaning)