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Although the Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, there are a number of near-Earth objects (NEOs) with orbits that are in resonance with Earth. These have been called "second" moons of Earth or "minimoons". [2] [3] 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, an asteroid discovered on 27 April 2016, is possibly the most stable quasi-satellite of Earth. [4]
When viewed from the celestial north, the nodes move clockwise around Earth, opposite to Earth's own spin and its revolution around the Sun. An eclipse of the Moon or Sun can occur when the nodes align with the Sun, roughly every 173.3 days. Lunar orbit inclination also determines eclipses; shadows cross when nodes coincide with full and new ...
The point towards which the Earth in its solar orbit is directed at any given instant is known as the "apex of the Earth's way". [4] [5] From a vantage point above the north pole of either the Sun or Earth, Earth would appear to revolve in a counterclockwise direction around the Sun. From the same vantage point, both the Earth and the Sun would ...
In gravitationally bound systems, the orbital speed of an astronomical body or object (e.g. planet, moon, artificial satellite, spacecraft, or star) is the speed at which it orbits around either the barycenter (the combined center of mass) or, if one body is much more massive than the other bodies of the system combined, its speed relative to the center of mass of the most massive body.
The moons of the trans-Neptunian objects (other than Charon) have not been included, because they appear to follow the normal situation for TNOs rather than the moons of Saturn and Uranus, and become solid at a larger size (900–1000 km diameter, rather than 400 km as for the moons of Saturn and Uranus).
In order to be considered a mini-moon, an incoming body must reach Earth at a range around 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km) and at a steady space of about 2,200 mph (3,540 km/h), according to ...
Earth has one Moon, the largest moon of any rocky planet in the Solar System and the largest body typically described as a moon that orbits anything in hydrostatic equilibrium in relation to the primary object by mass and diameter other than Charon and Pluto, the latter two being dwarf planets revolving around each other. Earth also has more ...
Earth may have had a ring made up of a broken asteroid over 400 million years ago, a study finds. ... gravitational pull could have formed a Saturn-like ring around the planet about 466 million ...