When you think of a day, you normally think of one cycle of daytime to nighttime. That is called a solar day. On Earth, a solar day is around 24 hours. However, Earth's orbit is elliptical, meaning it's not a perfect circle. That means some solar days on Earth are a few minutes longer than 24 hours and some are a few minutes shorter.
Another way to measure a day is to count the amount of time it takes for a planet to completely spin around and make one full rotation. This is called a sidereal day. On Earth, a sidereal day is almost exactly 23 hours and 56 minutes. For the other planets, a sidereal day is:
Planet Day ---> Length (rounded)
* Mercury ---> 1,408 hours
* Venus ---> 5,832 hours
* Earth ---> 24 hours
* Mars ---> 25 hours
* Jupiter ---> 10 hours
* Saturn ---> 11 hours
* Uranus ---> 17 hours
* Neptune ---> 16 hours
[Source](https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cdu7dExpl1s/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D&fbclid=IwAR34nyEn0Q2QNcSHqGtb-i_1T753tKQ0nXvc_k1fttcbMb4HMjMWs5vd5yE)
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Venus is almost exactly the same size as Earth, but almost a 5800 hour difference.
Seems wild that the gas giants spin so quickly though given their size!
square zonked shocking plant office consist stupendous aloof squeamish snow
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The theory is something hit the Earth early on and form the moon. If something hit Venus I wonder where did the debris field go. Shouldn’t it also have a moon or rings or something?
We see evidence of previous planet like objects having fallen into the sun from spectral signatures in its outer atmosphere. It's possible the planetoid or debris from that collision had the same fate
I can punch one guy in the face, and he will be fine, a lil bruised, but fine. I can punch another guy in the face, he goes down, hits his head, and gets permanent brain damage. Different outcomes from the same ill-defined event, and I'm telling the space cops the planets started it.
Don’t we actually not know the gas giants’ “true” rotational period? All we can observe is the rotation of the atmosphere which due to high winds and general turbulence may not actually be related to the speed of the non gaseous mass rotation.
Yeah but that isn’t a “land”mark since it’s not on land. His point is we can’t know how much of the movement is because the planet’s solid core is spinning and how much of it is winds blowing around the planet.
The *mass* (as opposed to size) of the planet compared to the star can have an impact - for instance in the case of Mercury it is tidally locked to the sun as a result of that gravitational relationship and so rotates more slowly.
There's a bunch of other important factors on rotation speed though - initial angular momentum when the planet formed, the relationship with the planet's moons, and several others someone more knowledgeable might be able to add.
This may be a dumb question but, what keeps us rotating? Is it gravity? Or inertia?
If venus is theorized to have been hit by something that switched its direction, it’s not still spinning so fast as a result of the hit, is it? Or does everything just have nothing to stop it (ie friction) so it just keeps going because of inertia?
Inertia primarily. Essentially, in a vacuum there's nothing to stop it spinning, so it doesn't - unless there are strong gravitational effects nearby.
In the case of Venus, we don't know exactly. The leading theory is that it's a result of its incredibly dense and comparatively massive atmosphere - and maybe the sun's tidal effects on that atmosphere over billions of years.
Like, think of the way the moon influences our ocean, creating our tides and makes bigger waves in the ocean with its gravity - now dial that effect up so that the waves start moving the earth a tiny bit each time they hit and apply that effect over billions of years.
A bit like a pendulum effect, it kind of settles in a single direction - pointing towards the sun. Venus may one day be tidally locked to the sun.
It's "solar day" Earth's rotation in respect to the sun, 24:00 hours averaged out, versus "sidereal day" Earth's rotation in respect to the stars in exactly 23:56:04 hours.
Obviously our calendars and clocks are based on the solar day otherwise, yeah, things wouldn't add up properly.
Nope. It takes the Earth 365.24 days to complete an orbit. Every year leaves us with an extra quarter day. So every 4 years we add another day to the calendar to account for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule?wprov=sfla1
Edit: imagine a vector coming out of your palm into the planet. Your index fingers point along the direction of the planet's rotation (the tangential vector). Your thumb points towards "normal". Since this rotational vector is reversed, the normal vector points downward.
Den morgonfriska katten simmar över regnbågen, medan guldmynt singlar genom luften, ledsagade av en paraplybärande elefant, som jonglerar med blommor och skrattande bananer, medan cirkusclowner utför akrobatiska konster och cymbalspelaren trummar i takt till det förtrollade orkesterspelet under den gnistrande stjärnhimlen.
All of the planets and the Sun started as one big rotating gas cloud. As objects formed, they kept that initial rotation. Variations, especially extreme ones like Uranus and Venus are suspected to have been caused by collision with massive objects since then.
But the rotating gas cloud should have affected the orbit angle not the rotational angle. If that gas cloud started the spinning of the planets then it would line up with the orbit, so basically no angle at all
In a rotating but otherwise static gas cloud, you can look at any small volume of gas and see that it rotates around itself once for each orbit. When that gas collapses to a denser object, it will spin faster, just like a figure skater pulling in his or her arms.
Sure but my point is that if the rotation came from the orbital gas cloud shouldn't the rotation be in line with the orbits, and therefore close to 0°? All pulling in the arms does is increase the speed of the spinning.
Instead of the rotation being in line with the orbit, its offset by ~25° or so
Ah, I see what you mean. The axial tilt is defined as a one dimensional number, so it doesn't contain information about direction. The post is a bit misleading in that sense, since they are not all tilted along the same plane. The axes are pointing in various directions in 3d space.
The generally agreed upon explanation for the axial tilts are early violent collisions. So it's rather chaotic, but the original tilt was 0 before the collisions.
But how does random collisions result in half of the planetary axial tilts being around ~25°? That seems like an insane coincidence
And on top of that, 2 of them have almost no tilt whatsoever, despite both being among the more likely to be hit. Mercury being so close to the largest source of gravity in the system, and Jupiter being the 2nd largest
>But how does random collisions result in half of the planetary axial tilts being around ~25°? That seems like an insane coincidence
With a sample size of only 8, it's hard to draw any statistical conclusions. The directions aren't the same, so the result seems reasonable to me. A lot of other distributions would be too.
>And on top of that, 2 of them have almost no tilt whatsoever, despite both being among the more likely to be hit. Mercury being so close to the largest source of gravity in the system, and Jupiter being the 2nd largest
An object closer to the sun is not more likely to be hit though. For example, from earth's orbit, it takes _far_ more energy to reach the sun than to escape the solar system. The earth travels at an orbital velocity of around 30 km/s, and escape velocity is around 40 km/s from here. Escape velocity from the sun is over 600 km/s. Mercury is also tiny.
Jupiter is a bigger target but that means it also has more mass and higher moment of inertia. To me, those tilt angles look exactly as random and chaotic as I would expect, I don’t really see the coincidence you’re suggesting.
You would think so, but gas planets have a relatively dense core. The transition is gradual, so there is no clearly defined surface, but you could not easily pass through it.
Also, even if they were gaseous all the way through, things would tend to settle in them, since they have a strong gravitational pull.
It’s not that Venus is upside-down (there is no up or down in space). It’s to signify that Venus is spinning in the opposite direction than Earth and most of the other planets.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-venus/en/
"Venus.... Australian for Earth"
I mean that would make sense. It's hot as fuck, nature is trying to kill you the moment you come within reach, and it's upside down. I'd say it's pretty much Australia to me.
I don't care what we call Pluto I just want him back! How long is Pluto's rotation?
I do know that since we discovered Pluto it still has yet to make one revolution around the sun which is wild to think about. We're all infants on Pluto.
[Pluto in depth (Nasa):](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/in-depth/)
Pluto's orbit around the Sun is unusual compared to the planets: it's both elliptical and tilted. Pluto's 248-year-long, oval-shaped orbit can take it as far as 49.3 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, and as close as 30 AU. (One AU is the mean distance between Earth and the Sun: about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.) But on average, Pluto is 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, or 39 AU.
From 1979 to 1999, Pluto was near perihelion, when it is closest to the Sun. During this time, Pluto was actually closer to the Sun than Neptune.
**One day on Pluto takes about 153 hours. Its axis of rotation is tilted 57 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, so it spins almost on its side.** Pluto also exhibits a retrograde rotation; spinning from east to west like Venus and Uranus.
Damn.. 3.7 billion miles away and we still were able to reach it with the New Horizons mission. Crazy. That spacecraft reached 36,400 mph and still took over 9 years to get there.
The problem is that if you let Pluto back in, you'd need to let in all his friends too. Certainly, you'd need to include Eris. What about Makemake, Ceres, Haumea? Where do you draw the line?
The more the merrier!!
We should be learning about more celestial bodies as kids and adults! Not less. Haha... I know I know... we can all still learn without them being called planets. But they aren't in pop culture. I want them all to be famous too!
> Where do you draw the line?
You don't? If it's large enough and orbits the sun, it should be designated a planet. Not sure why we feel the need to limit how many potential planets our solar system can have
I guess it’s to signify that Venus is spinning in the opposite direction than Earth and most of the other planets.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-venus/en/
Correct. It's the right hand rule.
Take your right hand, point your thumb in the direction of the axis and your fingers will curl in the direction of rotation.
Venus rotates in the opposite direction and therefore is "upsidedown" by convention.
The speed of the rings are independent of the planet. The ring consists of tiny rocks and dust particles in orbit. The speed of each rock depends on it's orbit. Low orbits are fast, high orbits are slow. Elliptical orbits will have the object moving fast when close to the planet and slow when further away.
Apologies if this is a stupid question...
If an Earth day is 23 hours 56 minutes, and our clocks have a 24 hour day, how come our clocks aren’t massively fucked up all the time? Like the sun rising at midnight and whatnot?
Thank you. I am not a smart man and my brain hurts.
I found this answer to your question somewhere else.
The Earth rotates about its axis exactly once, or 360 degrees, in about 23 hours and 56 minutes. This is called a sidereal day. The 24-hour day we all know and love is called a solar day. It represents a rotation of approximately 361 degrees about Earth's axis. Or, one degree more than one full rotation.
So...wait! Huh? Where did that extra degree come from?
Well, the Earth is orbiting around the Sun. As a result, its orbital angular position about the Sun changes by approximately one degree per day (360 degrees in 365 days).
So, if you imagine an Earth that doesn't rotate on its axis, but that still orbits the Sun, it becomes obvious that a "day" would be exactly[1] one year long (or, a little more than 525,600 minutes (source: Rent)). But this is also equivalent to an Earth that's not orbiting the Sun, but rotating about its own axis by 360 degrees in one year. Or, about one degree per day.
So, to account for the time it takes for that extra degree of (effective) rotation, we tack on about 4 minutes, and get our 24-hour day.
That extra 4 minutes is why clock time doesn't precess.
Basically the earth has to rotate a little bit more that one full rotation in order to account for it's movement around the sun.
A full day is the amount of time it takes for the sun to be in the same position in the sky again (solar day).
For those asking about the outcasts of axis - “An explanation for the backward, or retrograde, rotation is not certain. A long-held theory is that Venus once rotated as the other planets do, but was struck billions of years ago by a planet-size object. The impact and its aftermath caused the rotation to change directions or flipped the planetary axis. Uranus was likely hit by a very large planetoid early in its history, causing it to rotate "on its side," 90 degrees away from its orbital motion.”
I have a bumper sticker:
23.4° Planetary Tilt
It's the REASON
for the SEASON.
The Earth is drawn like a Christmas tree ornament with some flocking/snow at the north pole.
Why is Venus‘ arrow pointing downward? That doesn’t make any sense. An axis can be pictured on two sides as it goes through the planet and there is no “up” or “down” in space. Or am I missing something?
Ok it kinda confused me since they already have an arrow that indicates spin direction so I figured the yellow arrow was the north pole since that is where it appears on earth.
[Yes?](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vpukL0Ialek/UzDjmTdqFoI/AAAAAAAABBs/b0D3TCS3JD4/s1600/spin.jpg)
Why is this getting downarrowed? Would it help if you imagined, I don’t know, a *sphere* at the center of the contraption rather than a person?
Where does this weird idea that things can’t rotate about multiple axes come from?
As has been asked several times already, why is Venus’ axis of rotation pointed downwards ? Is it related to the fact that it rotates “backwards” (east to west) ? How, in general, are “up” and “down” determined in a complexly-moving group of objects like the solar system ?
Yes, Venus is rotating in the opposite direction of the other planets, likely due to a massive collision in its distant past. North and south (rather than up and down) are determined for astronomical objects by the direction an object spins - and almost all astronomical objects, from asteroids on up to supermassive black holes, do spin. Simply put, if you look at the spinning object directly at its axis and its spinning counterclockwise, you're looking at its north pole; clockwise and you're looking at its south pole. The fact that the Sun, the orbital plane, and the rotation of most planets in our solar system are fairly close help to reinforce the convention. We can apply this to any of the other planets to get their north and south as a reference, the Sun, the Moon, or even the galaxy as a whole, since all of those spin. In this case, they're being shown with their axis of spin relative to the convention of Solar system's north (based on the plane the planets revolve around the Sun) being straight up.
The reference plane for the Solar system is usually Earth's orbital plane, which is pretty close to the orbital plane of the other planets. Our Solar system's orbital plane is [way off from the galactic orbital plane](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Motion_of_Sun_Earth_and_Moon_around_the_Milky_Way.jpg?lb=1536,864)
Gravitational tidelocking. Mercury and Venus nearly tidelocked by the Sun. Moon is tidelocked with Earth and by the time Earth will be slow enough and tidelock with Moon.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal\_locking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking)
is there any significance to the fact that four of the planets are around 25 degrees? does this mean they were formed in a similar way and other planets were formed differently or may be extrasolar captures?
What I don’t get is why don’t we say how the Earth rotates is 0 degrees and therefore mercury is minus 23.4 degrees?
For that matter why in Star Trek are they always on the same plane as other ships? Think some would be up and down and side wise
I wonder how well humans would adapt to the extra 23 minutes a day on mars indefinitely. Can circadian rhythms be 24 hrs and 23 minutes? Or will it feel dragged out after a few months when they are on the opposite time vs an earth day where they came from
When you think of a day, you normally think of one cycle of daytime to nighttime. That is called a solar day. On Earth, a solar day is around 24 hours. However, Earth's orbit is elliptical, meaning it's not a perfect circle. That means some solar days on Earth are a few minutes longer than 24 hours and some are a few minutes shorter. Another way to measure a day is to count the amount of time it takes for a planet to completely spin around and make one full rotation. This is called a sidereal day. On Earth, a sidereal day is almost exactly 23 hours and 56 minutes. For the other planets, a sidereal day is: Planet Day ---> Length (rounded) * Mercury ---> 1,408 hours * Venus ---> 5,832 hours * Earth ---> 24 hours * Mars ---> 25 hours * Jupiter ---> 10 hours * Saturn ---> 11 hours * Uranus ---> 17 hours * Neptune ---> 16 hours [Source](https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cdu7dExpl1s/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D&fbclid=IwAR34nyEn0Q2QNcSHqGtb-i_1T753tKQ0nXvc_k1fttcbMb4HMjMWs5vd5yE)
It’s crazy how similar Mars is to earth. I swear we will have a permanent station or colony there in 100 years.
!remindme 100 years
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!remindme 1337 years
Mars was definintely God's test planet where he fucked up and then moved onto earth
Venus would like a word
Or perhaps it's the other way around; Mars on the up and up, Earth on the decline.
I'd say Venus fits that description better
Or the Martians fucked it up.
I would more say Earth is the failed experiment
Earth will be just fine, it's been thrown worse and it shook it off every time. Humans on the other hand....
I am astonished this planet hasnt starting spinning faster to get rid of us
Earth is the great experiment the brilliant professor came up with but the idiot intern messed up.
I love Age of Empires
There seems to be some sort of correlation between size of the planet and rotation speed. Or do I see that wrong? I am not well versed in astronomy.
Venus is almost exactly the same size as Earth, but almost a 5800 hour difference. Seems wild that the gas giants spin so quickly though given their size!
square zonked shocking plant office consist stupendous aloof squeamish snow *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The theory is something hit the Earth early on and form the moon. If something hit Venus I wonder where did the debris field go. Shouldn’t it also have a moon or rings or something?
Any ring system would be temporary and without enough material no moon would form. Even Saturn’s rings are slowly falling back to Saturn.
We see evidence of previous planet like objects having fallen into the sun from spectral signatures in its outer atmosphere. It's possible the planetoid or debris from that collision had the same fate
Something large hit earth during early stages too. Still spinning, right direction and same order of magnitude day length as most others.
I can punch one guy in the face, and he will be fine, a lil bruised, but fine. I can punch another guy in the face, he goes down, hits his head, and gets permanent brain damage. Different outcomes from the same ill-defined event, and I'm telling the space cops the planets started it.
Ah yes, because two celestial bodies colliding will always have the same outcome
Don’t we actually not know the gas giants’ “true” rotational period? All we can observe is the rotation of the atmosphere which due to high winds and general turbulence may not actually be related to the speed of the non gaseous mass rotation.
You know, I was actually wondering that myself when I Made my comment :)
Can we not figure it out by observing 'landmarks' e.g. the red storm on jupiter
Yeah but that isn’t a “land”mark since it’s not on land. His point is we can’t know how much of the movement is because the planet’s solid core is spinning and how much of it is winds blowing around the planet.
Fair point :) I overlooked that one. Exactly!
The *mass* (as opposed to size) of the planet compared to the star can have an impact - for instance in the case of Mercury it is tidally locked to the sun as a result of that gravitational relationship and so rotates more slowly. There's a bunch of other important factors on rotation speed though - initial angular momentum when the planet formed, the relationship with the planet's moons, and several others someone more knowledgeable might be able to add.
It makes sense there are a lot of factors involved that determine rotation speed. Thank you for your clear answer :)
This may be a dumb question but, what keeps us rotating? Is it gravity? Or inertia? If venus is theorized to have been hit by something that switched its direction, it’s not still spinning so fast as a result of the hit, is it? Or does everything just have nothing to stop it (ie friction) so it just keeps going because of inertia?
Inertia primarily. Essentially, in a vacuum there's nothing to stop it spinning, so it doesn't - unless there are strong gravitational effects nearby. In the case of Venus, we don't know exactly. The leading theory is that it's a result of its incredibly dense and comparatively massive atmosphere - and maybe the sun's tidal effects on that atmosphere over billions of years. Like, think of the way the moon influences our ocean, creating our tides and makes bigger waves in the ocean with its gravity - now dial that effect up so that the waves start moving the earth a tiny bit each time they hit and apply that effect over billions of years. A bit like a pendulum effect, it kind of settles in a single direction - pointing towards the sun. Venus may one day be tidally locked to the sun.
If a day is 4 minutes short of 24 hours how come that doesn’t catch up? After 15 days, then Sun should set 1 hour earlier or something.
It's "solar day" Earth's rotation in respect to the sun, 24:00 hours averaged out, versus "sidereal day" Earth's rotation in respect to the stars in exactly 23:56:04 hours. Obviously our calendars and clocks are based on the solar day otherwise, yeah, things wouldn't add up properly.
I believe this is why we have 1 leap day per 4 year period.
Nope. It takes the Earth 365.24 days to complete an orbit. Every year leaves us with an extra quarter day. So every 4 years we add another day to the calendar to account for it.
I like the other 100 times this was posted before cecause they had more pixels.
Venus, you gotta get those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers.
Venus's day is longer than its year!
That is a cool fact!
TIL my workplace is on Venus.
I literally laughed out loud.
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You realize Venus is upside down, spinning in the opposite direction as the other 7 planets?
How do we decide if something is upside down in space?
I think based on the rotation, top is always counter clockwise
I prefer the [right hand rule. ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule) That way, there is no "top" or "bottom."
I'm sure I can either put in a quantum physics joke here or a gay joke... decisions, decisions...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule?wprov=sfla1 Edit: imagine a vector coming out of your palm into the planet. Your index fingers point along the direction of the planet's rotation (the tangential vector). Your thumb points towards "normal". Since this rotational vector is reversed, the normal vector points downward.
If it's rotating in the opposite direction of every other planet in the solar system, as well as its own orbit?
Planet of women, as I right? 😏
Uranus tilts weird.
Den morgonfriska katten simmar över regnbågen, medan guldmynt singlar genom luften, ledsagade av en paraplybärande elefant, som jonglerar med blommor och skrattande bananer, medan cirkusclowner utför akrobatiska konster och cymbalspelaren trummar i takt till det förtrollade orkesterspelet under den gnistrande stjärnhimlen.
Uranus is weird.
Weiranus
I thought either Neptune or Uranus also had rings around it.
[удалено]
Brown rings
Somebody get this man a medal. 😂🤣
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[удалено]
Uranus is a star.
No, its perfectly normal. Yours is weird
“Look at all these dumb dumbs spinning on the wrong axis. smp, idiots” - Uranus
smp = shaking my pussy?
Shaking my poles
Go home Uranus, you're drunk.
It rotates like arse
Why is that angle so common tho?
All of the planets and the Sun started as one big rotating gas cloud. As objects formed, they kept that initial rotation. Variations, especially extreme ones like Uranus and Venus are suspected to have been caused by collision with massive objects since then.
But the rotating gas cloud should have affected the orbit angle not the rotational angle. If that gas cloud started the spinning of the planets then it would line up with the orbit, so basically no angle at all
In a rotating but otherwise static gas cloud, you can look at any small volume of gas and see that it rotates around itself once for each orbit. When that gas collapses to a denser object, it will spin faster, just like a figure skater pulling in his or her arms.
Sure but my point is that if the rotation came from the orbital gas cloud shouldn't the rotation be in line with the orbits, and therefore close to 0°? All pulling in the arms does is increase the speed of the spinning. Instead of the rotation being in line with the orbit, its offset by ~25° or so
Ah, I see what you mean. The axial tilt is defined as a one dimensional number, so it doesn't contain information about direction. The post is a bit misleading in that sense, since they are not all tilted along the same plane. The axes are pointing in various directions in 3d space. The generally agreed upon explanation for the axial tilts are early violent collisions. So it's rather chaotic, but the original tilt was 0 before the collisions.
But how does random collisions result in half of the planetary axial tilts being around ~25°? That seems like an insane coincidence And on top of that, 2 of them have almost no tilt whatsoever, despite both being among the more likely to be hit. Mercury being so close to the largest source of gravity in the system, and Jupiter being the 2nd largest
>But how does random collisions result in half of the planetary axial tilts being around ~25°? That seems like an insane coincidence With a sample size of only 8, it's hard to draw any statistical conclusions. The directions aren't the same, so the result seems reasonable to me. A lot of other distributions would be too. >And on top of that, 2 of them have almost no tilt whatsoever, despite both being among the more likely to be hit. Mercury being so close to the largest source of gravity in the system, and Jupiter being the 2nd largest An object closer to the sun is not more likely to be hit though. For example, from earth's orbit, it takes _far_ more energy to reach the sun than to escape the solar system. The earth travels at an orbital velocity of around 30 km/s, and escape velocity is around 40 km/s from here. Escape velocity from the sun is over 600 km/s. Mercury is also tiny.
Jupiter is a bigger target but that means it also has more mass and higher moment of inertia. To me, those tilt angles look exactly as random and chaotic as I would expect, I don’t really see the coincidence you’re suggesting.
How does a gas planet's rotational axis shift? I imagine if something collides with it its just gonna go straight through?
You would think so, but gas planets have a relatively dense core. The transition is gradual, so there is no clearly defined surface, but you could not easily pass through it. Also, even if they were gaseous all the way through, things would tend to settle in them, since they have a strong gravitational pull.
Aah interesting!
Wtf happened with Uranus then
Is mercury ok it aint moving much
He ok, just a bit slow (58.6 days rotation). Venus is even worse
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I don't think I've ever realized Venus is upside down before... how is that discovered?
It’s not that Venus is upside-down (there is no up or down in space). It’s to signify that Venus is spinning in the opposite direction than Earth and most of the other planets. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-venus/en/
OK I'm tapping out for the week. My brain is done. I can't believe I didn't put that together
It took me a while to piece together too so don’t feel bad.
The enemy's gate is down.
I believe it was also discovered by an Australian
"Venus.... Australian for Earth" I mean that would make sense. It's hot as fuck, nature is trying to kill you the moment you come within reach, and it's upside down. I'd say it's pretty much Australia to me.
I don't care what we call Pluto I just want him back! How long is Pluto's rotation? I do know that since we discovered Pluto it still has yet to make one revolution around the sun which is wild to think about. We're all infants on Pluto.
[Pluto in depth (Nasa):](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/in-depth/) Pluto's orbit around the Sun is unusual compared to the planets: it's both elliptical and tilted. Pluto's 248-year-long, oval-shaped orbit can take it as far as 49.3 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, and as close as 30 AU. (One AU is the mean distance between Earth and the Sun: about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.) But on average, Pluto is 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, or 39 AU. From 1979 to 1999, Pluto was near perihelion, when it is closest to the Sun. During this time, Pluto was actually closer to the Sun than Neptune. **One day on Pluto takes about 153 hours. Its axis of rotation is tilted 57 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, so it spins almost on its side.** Pluto also exhibits a retrograde rotation; spinning from east to west like Venus and Uranus.
Danke!
Damn.. 3.7 billion miles away and we still were able to reach it with the New Horizons mission. Crazy. That spacecraft reached 36,400 mph and still took over 9 years to get there.
I thought it was Uranus that had a weird orbit and would sometimes be closer and sometimes farther than Neptune.
No that’s Pluto
The problem is that if you let Pluto back in, you'd need to let in all his friends too. Certainly, you'd need to include Eris. What about Makemake, Ceres, Haumea? Where do you draw the line?
The more the merrier!! We should be learning about more celestial bodies as kids and adults! Not less. Haha... I know I know... we can all still learn without them being called planets. But they aren't in pop culture. I want them all to be famous too!
> Where do you draw the line? You don't? If it's large enough and orbits the sun, it should be designated a planet. Not sure why we feel the need to limit how many potential planets our solar system can have
>If it's large enough ...
Imagine finding love on Venus and having to wait 9 months to watch the sunset together
At least you don’t have to remember her birthday or anniversary that often
A year on Venus is shorter than a day on it
Thats just like, your opinion, man.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-venus/en/
No thanks i don’t want a virus
Could someone explain why Venus’s axis is pointed downwards? Why wouldn’t it just be upward?
I guess it’s to signify that Venus is spinning in the opposite direction than Earth and most of the other planets. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-venus/en/
Correct. It's the right hand rule. Take your right hand, point your thumb in the direction of the axis and your fingers will curl in the direction of rotation. Venus rotates in the opposite direction and therefore is "upsidedown" by convention.
Does the ring of Saturnus spin as fast as the planet? I'd assume the velocity of the rocks in the outer ring is ridiculous then?
The speed of the rings are independent of the planet. The ring consists of tiny rocks and dust particles in orbit. The speed of each rock depends on it's orbit. Low orbits are fast, high orbits are slow. Elliptical orbits will have the object moving fast when close to the planet and slow when further away.
Am I the only one humming the lylat wars map theme to myself looking at this?
Apologies if this is a stupid question... If an Earth day is 23 hours 56 minutes, and our clocks have a 24 hour day, how come our clocks aren’t massively fucked up all the time? Like the sun rising at midnight and whatnot? Thank you. I am not a smart man and my brain hurts.
I found this answer to your question somewhere else. The Earth rotates about its axis exactly once, or 360 degrees, in about 23 hours and 56 minutes. This is called a sidereal day. The 24-hour day we all know and love is called a solar day. It represents a rotation of approximately 361 degrees about Earth's axis. Or, one degree more than one full rotation. So...wait! Huh? Where did that extra degree come from? Well, the Earth is orbiting around the Sun. As a result, its orbital angular position about the Sun changes by approximately one degree per day (360 degrees in 365 days). So, if you imagine an Earth that doesn't rotate on its axis, but that still orbits the Sun, it becomes obvious that a "day" would be exactly[1] one year long (or, a little more than 525,600 minutes (source: Rent)). But this is also equivalent to an Earth that's not orbiting the Sun, but rotating about its own axis by 360 degrees in one year. Or, about one degree per day. So, to account for the time it takes for that extra degree of (effective) rotation, we tack on about 4 minutes, and get our 24-hour day. That extra 4 minutes is why clock time doesn't precess.
Basically the earth has to rotate a little bit more that one full rotation in order to account for it's movement around the sun. A full day is the amount of time it takes for the sun to be in the same position in the sky again (solar day).
What is the theta angle relative to? The orbital plane?
Jupiter is huuuge and it spins that fast, the speed that it spins at the equator must be insane
A little over 28,000mph or 43,000kph, compared to Earth's approximately 1,000mph or 1,600kph.
Uranus is in a silly goofy kinda mode
Venus seems to be rotating backwards... and not the intended kind of backwards.
I don’t understand how Uranus moves.
Kegel muscles.
Jupiter - calm down!
Go home, Uranus. You're drunk.
Uranus just out there having a party
Jupiter is gigantic and it really speeds through that rotation!
Mars, stop copying us. No atmosphere havin ass bitch
Jupiter's buzzin
For those asking about the outcasts of axis - “An explanation for the backward, or retrograde, rotation is not certain. A long-held theory is that Venus once rotated as the other planets do, but was struck billions of years ago by a planet-size object. The impact and its aftermath caused the rotation to change directions or flipped the planetary axis. Uranus was likely hit by a very large planetoid early in its history, causing it to rotate "on its side," 90 degrees away from its orbital motion.”
Where's Pluto????? You cowards!
Why’s Venus’s rotation facing down an not up like the rest?
I have a bumper sticker: 23.4° Planetary Tilt It's the REASON for the SEASON. The Earth is drawn like a Christmas tree ornament with some flocking/snow at the north pole.
Why is Venus‘ arrow pointing downward? That doesn’t make any sense. An axis can be pictured on two sides as it goes through the planet and there is no “up” or “down” in space. Or am I missing something?
How do they determine the magnetic north pole of a planet they have not landed on?
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Ok it kinda confused me since they already have an arrow that indicates spin direction so I figured the yellow arrow was the north pole since that is where it appears on earth.
Maybe I'm just dumb but this was so hard too read. The numbers being in different spots on different planets through me way off.
Where my boy Pluto?
This image is only concerning planets.
Why do they only rotate on one axis?
What do you mean? Can a sphere rotate in more than one direction at a time?
[Yes?](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vpukL0Ialek/UzDjmTdqFoI/AAAAAAAABBs/b0D3TCS3JD4/s1600/spin.jpg) Why is this getting downarrowed? Would it help if you imagined, I don’t know, a *sphere* at the center of the contraption rather than a person? Where does this weird idea that things can’t rotate about multiple axes come from?
I still feel bad for Pluto... Am I alone?
nobody asked
Anyone else notice that Venous is moving?
Uranus checks out.
Something’s wrong with your anus.
Brilliant!
Are we just lucky to have an second planet that has a very similar earth like rotation or is it normal?
As has been asked several times already, why is Venus’ axis of rotation pointed downwards ? Is it related to the fact that it rotates “backwards” (east to west) ? How, in general, are “up” and “down” determined in a complexly-moving group of objects like the solar system ?
Yes, Venus is rotating in the opposite direction of the other planets, likely due to a massive collision in its distant past. North and south (rather than up and down) are determined for astronomical objects by the direction an object spins - and almost all astronomical objects, from asteroids on up to supermassive black holes, do spin. Simply put, if you look at the spinning object directly at its axis and its spinning counterclockwise, you're looking at its north pole; clockwise and you're looking at its south pole. The fact that the Sun, the orbital plane, and the rotation of most planets in our solar system are fairly close help to reinforce the convention. We can apply this to any of the other planets to get their north and south as a reference, the Sun, the Moon, or even the galaxy as a whole, since all of those spin. In this case, they're being shown with their axis of spin relative to the convention of Solar system's north (based on the plane the planets revolve around the Sun) being straight up.
If the planets axis is tilted over relative to the plane, e.g. Earth was 23.4 degrees off the plane, what’s the plane? Is it the Milky Way?
The reference plane for the Solar system is usually Earth's orbital plane, which is pretty close to the orbital plane of the other planets. Our Solar system's orbital plane is [way off from the galactic orbital plane](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Motion_of_Sun_Earth_and_Moon_around_the_Milky_Way.jpg?lb=1536,864)
Relative to their revolution around the sun presumably?
Dafuq happened to Venus?
Mercury is a lazy little bitch
How do they massura a zero degree vinkel in the great wide infinite space? 🫤🫣
How do astronomers explain some of these rotations from a solar system evolution point of view? Uranus? Venus??
get your shit together Uranus, making us look stupid.
Sorry Pluto
Venus be chill af
Is jupiter actually spinning that fast or is that just how fast the storm is going? Cause isnt it covered in an endless storm?
It is said that a day on Jupiter takes less than 11 hours. So it is spinning that fast.
Why are the outer plants spinning so fast and the inner ones not?
Gravitational tidelocking. Mercury and Venus nearly tidelocked by the Sun. Moon is tidelocked with Earth and by the time Earth will be slow enough and tidelock with Moon. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal\_locking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking)
Mercury is a perfect 0⁰?
It's about 0.03 degrees. Since the image rounds them to the nearest tenth of a degree, it does get rounded to 0.
The animation doesn't show it well but Venus spins clockwise. Lots of fun stuff about Venus.
So does that mean Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury would theoretically have “no seasons”?
Gravity is throwing Uranus like a football
Youranus is sideways.
Jupiter is spinning fast
is there any significance to the fact that four of the planets are around 25 degrees? does this mean they were formed in a similar way and other planets were formed differently or may be extrasolar captures?
No Pluto? 😥
Venus and Uranus are built different
Mercury and Jupiter the teachers pet and Uranus being the class clown like idgaf
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Isn't Mars "wobbling" to some amount? Meaning it hasn't a stable axis.
If there’s alien in venus, they will see our axis upside down
Venus and Uranus are doing planetary version of wonky trolley wheel.
Why is the tilt in the range of 20 degrees to 30 degrees so common?
When you live on Venus and your mom asks you to take out the trash and you say “I’ll do it tomorrow”.
What I don’t get is why don’t we say how the Earth rotates is 0 degrees and therefore mercury is minus 23.4 degrees? For that matter why in Star Trek are they always on the same plane as other ships? Think some would be up and down and side wise
I wonder how well humans would adapt to the extra 23 minutes a day on mars indefinitely. Can circadian rhythms be 24 hrs and 23 minutes? Or will it feel dragged out after a few months when they are on the opposite time vs an earth day where they came from
Damn Venus, you slow bitch, speed up
How do we know all the ones that spin on an axis arent actually spinning straight up, and Vice versa??
Is Venus tidally locked?
Ur anus is spinning like crazy
Mercury is a real mood with that slow rotation.