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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]
As seen from Earth, the planet's orbital prograde motion makes the Sun appear to move with respect to other stars at a rate of about 1° eastward per solar day (or a Sun or Moon diameter every 12 hours). [nb 1] Earth's orbital speed averages 29.78 km/s (19 mi/s; 107,208 km/h; 66,616 mph), which is fast enough to cover the planet's diameter in 7 ...
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 ...
Exaggerated illustration of Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun, marking that the orbital extreme points (apoapsis and periapsis) are not the same as the four seasonal extreme points, the equinox and solstice. Earth orbits the Sun, making Earth the third-closest planet to the Sun and part of the inner Solar System.
Saturn takes about 10.7 hours (no one knows precisely) to rotate once on its axis—a Saturn “day”—and 29 Earth years to orbit the sun. Saturn is a gas giant and does not have a solid ...
Earth's movement along its nearly circular orbit while it is rotating once around its axis requires that Earth rotate slightly more than once relative to the fixed stars before the mean Sun can pass overhead again, even though it rotates only once (360°) relative to the mean Sun. [n 5] Multiplying the value in rad/s by Earth's equatorial ...
The Earth phase, Terra phase, terrestrial phase, or phase of Earth, is the shape of the directly sunlit portion of Earth as viewed from the Moon (or elsewhere extraterrestrially). From the Moon, the Earth phases gradually and cyclically change over the period of a synodic month (about 29.53 days), as the orbital positions of the Moon around ...
Umbra, penumbra and antumbra of Earth and images that could be seen at some points in these areas (Note: the relative size and distance of the bodies shown are not to scale.)“… The Earth’s shadow has two distinct parts,… the UMBRA is the part of the shadow where all direct sunlight is blocked by the Earth; the PENUMBRA of the shadow is ...