Earth & Space
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Planets, weather, oceans and the sky above them.
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Earth is closest to the Sun in January. So why is that winter?
Summer can't be caused by being closer to the Sun: Earth makes its closest pass around 3 January and is farthest around 4 July. The distance changes by only…
Why astronauts float: the space station never stops falling
Astronauts on the International Space Station look weightless, but at 400 km up, Earth's gravity is still about 90% as strong as on the ground. The trick is…
Why Mars sometimes walks backwards across the sky
Every 26 months or so, Mars slows down, stops, and drifts backwards against the stars for a couple of months before carrying on. Ancient astronomers built…
Why we only ever see one side of the Moon
The Moon always shows us the same face, so it's easy to assume it doesn't spin. It does. It turns exactly once for every orbit, about every 27.3 days, so the…