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  2. Differential rotation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_rotation

    Stars and planets rotate in the first place because conservation of angular momentum turns random drifting of parts of the molecular cloud that they form from into rotating motion as they coalesce. Given this average rotation of the whole body, internal differential rotation is caused by convection in stars which is a movement of mass, due to ...

  3. Earth's rotation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_rotation

    Earth's rotation imaged by Deep Space Climate Observatory, showing tilt. Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own axis, as well as changes in the orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in prograde motion.

  4. Tidal locking - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking

    In Mercury's case, the planet completes three rotations for every two revolutions around the Sun, a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance. In the special case where an orbit is nearly circular and the body's rotation axis is not significantly tilted, such as the Moon, tidal locking results in the same hemisphere of the revolving object constantly facing ...

  5. Celestial mechanics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_mechanics

    The common noun ‘moon’ (not capitalized) is used to mean any natural satellite of the other planets. Tidal force is the combination of out-of-balance forces and accelerations of (mostly) solid bodies that raises tides in bodies of liquid (oceans), atmospheres, and strains planets' and satellites' crusts.

  6. Nodal precession - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodal_precession

    This is equivalent to −3.683° per day, so the orbit plane will make one complete turn (in inertial space) in 98 days. The apparent motion of the sun is approximately +1° per day (360° per year / 365.2422 days per tropical year ≈ 0.9856473° per day), so apparent motion of the sun relative to the orbit plane is about 2.8° per day ...

  7. Retrograde and prograde motion - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrograde_and_prograde_motion

    All eight planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun in the direction of the Sun's rotation, which is counterclockwise when viewed from above the Sun's north pole. Six of the planets also rotate about their axis in this same direction. The exceptions – the planets with retrograde rotation – are Venus and Uranus.

  8. Astronomical nutation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_nutation

    Basically, there are also torques from other planets that cause planetary precession which contributes to about 2% of the total precession. Because periodic variations in the torques from the sun and the moon, the wobbling (nutation) comes into place. You can think of precession as the average and nutation as the instantaneous.

  9. Centrifugal force - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

    When analysed in a rotating reference frame of the planet, centrifugal force causes rotating planets to assume the shape of an oblate spheroid. Main article: Absolute rotation Three scenarios were suggested by Newton to answer the question of whether the absolute rotation of a local frame can be detected; that is, if an observer can decide ...