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These oscillations generally occur on a once-monthly or twice-monthly time-scale. The line of its apses precesses gradually with a period of roughly 8.85 years, while its line of nodes turns a full circle in roughly double that time, 18.6 years. [29] This accounts for the roughly 18-year periodicity of eclipses, the so-called Saros cycle ...
Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times the mass of Earth. Compared to its fellow ice giant Uranus, Neptune is slightly more massive, but
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.
If the same sphere were made of lead the small body would need to orbit just 6.7 mm above the surface for sustaining the same orbital period. When a very small body is in a circular orbit barely above the surface of a sphere of any radius and mean density ρ (in kg/m 3), the above equation simplifies to (since M = Vρ = 4 / 3 π a 3 ρ)
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 ...
Consider a body of one kilogram, moving in a circle of radius one metre, with an angular velocity of one radian per second. The speed is 1 metre per second. The inward acceleration is 1 metre per square second, v 2 /r. It is subject to a centripetal force of 1 kilogram metre per square second, which is 1 newton. The momentum of the body is 1 kg ...
The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the length of the semi-major axis of its orbit. The elliptical orbits of planets were indicated by calculations of the orbit of Mars. From this, Kepler inferred that other bodies in the Solar System, including those farther away from the Sun, also have elliptical orbits. The ...
Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune. [ a ] Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of 30.1 astronomical units (4.50 × 10 9 km).