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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.
Just as the Sun and Moon appear to rise in the east and set in the west due to the rotation of Earth, so do the stars. Both solar time and sidereal time make use of the regularity of Earth's rotation about its polar axis: solar time is reckoned according to the position of the Sun in the sky while sidereal time is based approximately on the ...
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.
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.
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]
Scientists have published two studies on the historic cache of lunar soil samples from the moon’s far side that China’s Chang’e-6 mission brought back to Earth in June.
NASA scientists say Uranus' rings have only been captured by two other cameras. They were first scoped out by the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it flew past in 1986. Later, the Kec.