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For gaseous or fluid bodies, such as stars and giant planets, the period of rotation varies from the object's equator to its pole due to a phenomenon called differential rotation. Typically, the stated rotation period for a giant planet (such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) is its internal rotation period, as determined from the rotation ...
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 inclined about 23.44° to Earth's celestial equator used for the coordinates of poles.
Neptune's second-known satellite (by order of discovery), the irregular moon Nereid, has one of the most eccentric orbits of any satellite in the Solar System. The eccentricity of 0.7512 gives it an apoapsis that is seven times its periapsis distance from Neptune. [j] From July to September 1989, Voyager 2 discovered six moons of Neptune. [162]
Its namesake is William Lassell, the English astronomer who discovered Neptune's largest moon, Triton. [20] This ring is a faint sheet of material occupying the space between the Le Verrier ring at about 53,200 km and the Arago ring at 57,200 km. [ 4 ] Its average normal optical depth is around 10 −4 , which corresponds to an equivalent depth ...
The furthest two planets in the Solar System both have similar masses, sizes, and atmospheric compositions, but they are different shades of blue. Scientists can finally explain why Uranus and ...
Voyager 2 studied Neptune's atmosphere, Neptune's rings, its magnetosphere, and Neptune's moons. [6] The Neptunian system had been studied scientifically for many years with telescopes and indirect methods, but the close inspection by the Voyager 2 probe settled many issues [ example needed ] and revealed a plethora of information that could ...
The stellar obliquity ψ s, i.e. the axial tilt of a star with respect to the orbital plane of one of its planets, has been determined for only a few systems. By 2012, 49 stars have had sky-projected spin-orbit misalignment λ has been observed, [ 39 ] which serves as a lower limit to ψ s .
Mercury's sidereal day is about two-thirds of its orbital period, so by the prograde formula its solar day lasts for two revolutions around the Sun – three times as long as its sidereal day. Venus rotates retrograde with a sidereal day lasting about 243.0 Earth days, or about 1.08 times its orbital period of 224.7 Earth days; hence by the ...