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Earth's rotation axis moves with respect to the fixed stars (inertial space); the components of this motion are precession and nutation. It also moves with respect to Earth's crust; this is called polar motion. Precession is a rotation of Earth's rotation axis, caused primarily by external torques from the gravity of the Sun, Moon and other bodies.
A rotation through angle θ with non-standard axes. If a standard right-handed Cartesian coordinate system is used, with the x-axis to the right and the y-axis up, the rotation R(θ) is counterclockwise. If a left-handed Cartesian coordinate system is used, with x directed to the right but y directed down, R(θ) is clockwise.
In the new coordinate system, the point P will appear to have been rotated in the opposite direction, that is, clockwise through the angle . A rotation of axes in more than two dimensions is defined similarly. [2] [3] A rotation of axes is a linear map [4] [5] and a rigid transformation.
For example, the daily rotation of the Earth is clockwise when viewed from above the South Pole, and counterclockwise when viewed from above the North Pole (considering "above a point" to be defined as "farther away from the center of earth and on the same ray"). The shadow of a horizontal sundial in the Northern Hemisphere rotates clockwise
Rotation can have a sign (as in the sign of an angle): a clockwise rotation is a negative magnitude so a counterclockwise turn has a positive magnitude. A rotation is different from other types of motions: translations , which have no fixed points, and (hyperplane) reflections , each of them having an entire ( n − 1) -dimensional flat of ...
The Sub-bureau for Rapid Service and Predictions of Earth Orientation Parameters of the IERS, located at the United States Naval Observatory, monitors the Earth's rotation. Part of its mission involves the determination of a time scale based on the current rate of the rotation of the Earth. Other services of IERS are at the Paris Observatory.
Due to the very slow pole motion of the Earth, the Celestial Ephemeris Pole (CEP, or celestial pole) does not stay still on the surface of the Earth.The Celestial Ephemeris Pole is calculated from observation data, and is averaged, so it differs from the instantaneous rotation axis by quasi-diurnal terms, which are as small as under 0.01" (see [6]).
The direction of rotation exhibited by most objects in the solar system (including Sun and Earth) is counterclockwise. Venus rotates clockwise, and Uranus has been knocked on its side and rotates almost perpendicular to the rest of the Solar System. The ecliptic remains within 3° of the invariable plane over five million years, [2] but is now ...