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The term retrograde is from the Latin word retrogradus – "backward-step", the affix retro-meaning "backwards" and gradus "step". Retrograde is most commonly an adjective used to describe the path of a planet as it travels through the night sky, with respect to the zodiac, stars, and other bodies of the celestial canopy. In this context, the ...
Six of the planets also rotate about their axis in this same direction. The exceptions – the planets with retrograde rotation – are Venus and Uranus. Venus's axial tilt is 177°, which means it is rotating almost exactly in the opposite direction to its orbit. Uranus has an axial tilt of 97.77°, so its axis of rotation is approximately ...
The dipole magnetic moment of Neptune is about 2.2 × 10 17 T·m 3 (14 μT·R N 3, where R N is the radius of Neptune). Neptune's magnetic field has a complex geometry that includes relatively large contributions from non-dipolar components, including a strong quadrupole moment that may exceed the dipole moment in strength. By contrast, Earth ...
For irregular moons, a shallow power law (q ≃ 2) is observed for sizes of 10 to 100 km, † but a steeper law (q ≃ 3.5) is observed for objects smaller than 10 km. An analysis of images taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in 2010 shows that the power law for Jupiter's population of small retrograde satellites, down to a detection ...
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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.
[5] Through the use of telescopes other celestial objects like the classical planets were found, starting with the Galilean moons in 1610. Today the term planet is used considerably differently, with a planet being defined as a natural satellite directly orbiting the Sun (or other stars) and having cleared its own orbit.
One of the surviving copies of De Motu was made by being entered in the Royal Society's register book, and its (Latin) text is available online. [4] For ease of cross-reference to the contents of De Motu that appeared again in the Principia, there are online sources for the Principia in English translation, [5] as well as in Latin. [6]