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In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period [1] of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the sidereal rotation period (or sidereal day ), i.e., the time that the object takes to complete a full rotation around its axis relative to the background stars ( inertial space ).
Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars . Earth's rotation is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal effects the Moon has on Earth's rotation.
A synodic day (or synodic rotation period or solar day) is the period for a celestial object to rotate once in relation to the star it is orbiting, and is the basis of solar time. The synodic day is distinguished from the sidereal day, which is one complete rotation in relation to distant stars [1] and is the basis of sidereal time.
Uranus has been the butt of a lot of jokes (stop giggling). And it doesn't help that it's huge — roughly four times the size of Earth — or gassy with an atmosphere comprised partly of methane.
The length of a day on Uranus as measured by Voyager 2 is 17 hours, 14 minutes. [49] Uranus was shown to have a magnetic field that was misaligned with its rotational axis, unlike other planets that had been visited to that point, [50] [53] and a helix-shaped magnetic tail stretching 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) away from the Sun. [50]
Simulated Earth view of Uranus from 1986 to 2030, from southern summer solstice in 1986 to equinox in 2007 and northern summer solstice in 2028. The Uranian axis of rotation is approximately parallel to the plane of the Solar System, with an axial tilt of 82.23°. Depending on which pole is considered north, the tilt can be described either as ...
What’s known about Uranus could be off the mark. An unusual cosmic occurrence during the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s 1986 flyby might have skewed how scientists characterized the ice giant, new ...
Five planets are going to be retrograde in the summer of 2024. Here are the dates for Mercury retrograde, Venus retrograde, Saturn retrograde, Neptune retrograde, Pluto retrograde and more.