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The reason why larger planets tend to spin faster is because they took on more of the Sun-orbiting mass, adding the mass's orbital motion to their spin in the process Date 22 January 2022
The tangential speed of Earth's rotation at a point on Earth can be approximated by multiplying the speed at the equator by the cosine of the latitude. [42] For example, the Kennedy Space Center is located at latitude 28.59° N, which yields a speed of: cos(28.59°) × 1,674.4 km/h = 1,470.2 km/h.
In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period [1] of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the sidereal rotation period (or sidereal day), i.e., the time that the object takes to complete a full rotation around its axis relative to the background stars (inertial space).
In gravitationally bound systems, the orbital speed of an astronomical body or object (e.g. planet, moon, artificial satellite, spacecraft, or star) is the speed at which it orbits around either the barycenter (the combined center of mass) or, if one body is much more massive than the other bodies of the system combined, its speed relative to the center of mass of the most massive body.
This plot shows the distribution of rotation periods for 15,000 minor planets as of September 2016, plotted against their diameters. Most bodies have a period between 2 and 20 hours. [1] [a] This is a list of fast rotators—"minor planets" (which includes asteroids) that have an exceptionally short rotation period, i
At the equator, the solar rotation period is 24.47 days. This is called the sidereal rotation period, and should not be confused with the synodic rotation period of 26.24 days, which is the time for a fixed feature on the Sun to rotate to the same apparent position as viewed from Earth (the Earth's orbital rotation is in the same direction as the Sun's rotation).
Most minor planets have rotation periods between 2 and 20 hours. [1] [3] As of 2019, a group of approximately 650 bodies, typically measuring 1–20 kilometers in diameter, have periods of more than 100 hours or 4 1 ⁄ 6 days. Among the slowest rotators, there are currently 15 bodies with a period longer than 1000 hours. [1]
The speed of the planet in the main orbit is constant. Despite being correct in saying that the planets revolved around the Sun, Copernicus was incorrect in defining their orbits. Introducing physical explanations for movement in space beyond just geometry, Kepler correctly defined the orbit of planets as follows: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 5 ] : 53–54