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The poles of astronomical bodies are determined based on their axis of rotation in relation to the celestial poles of the celestial sphere. Astronomical bodies include stars, planets, dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies such as comets and minor planets (e.g., asteroids), as well as natural satellites and minor-planet moons.
3-hour timelapse showing rotation of Jupiter and orbital motion of the moons. Jupiter is the only planet whose barycentre with the Sun lies outside the volume of the Sun, though by 7% of the Sun's radius. [130] [131] The average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is 778 million km (5.20 AU) and it completes an orbit every 11.86 years.
Retrograde orbit: the satellite (red) orbits in the direction opposite to the rotation of its primary (blue/black) Retrograde motion in astronomy is, in general, orbital or rotational motion of an object in the direction opposite the rotation of its primary, that is, the central object (right figure).
All other planetary bodies in the Solar System also appear to periodically switch direction as they cross Earth's sky. Though all stars and planets appear to move from east to west on a nightly basis in response to the rotation of Earth, the outer planets generally drift slowly eastward relative to the stars.
The South Pole is the other point where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica. 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.
For planetographic longitude, west longitudes (i.e., longitudes measured positively to the west) are used when the rotation is prograde, and east longitudes (i.e., longitudes measured positively to the east) when the rotation is retrograde. In simpler terms, imagine a distant, non-orbiting observer viewing a planet as it rotates.
The vertical temperature of the structure of the GRS is constrained between the 100–600 mbar range, with the vertical temperature of the GRS core at approximately 400 mbar of pressure [clarification needed] being 1.0–1.5°K, much warmer than regions of the GRS to the east–west, and 3.0–3.5°K warmer than regions to the north–south of ...
Jupiter was known to astronomers of ancient times. [1] The Romans named it after their god Jupiter . [ 2 ] When viewed from Earth , Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.94, bright enough for its reflected light to cast shadows, [ 3 ] and making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus .