Earth & Space

6 breaks

Planets, weather, oceans and the sky above them.

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Why planets speed up near the Sun: Kepler's equal-areas law Earth moves at 30.29 km/s near 3 January and 29.29 km/s near 4 July, with nothing pushing it along. The rule behind the change is Kepler's equal-areas law: a… Earth & Space3 min read Why the Moon always shows us the same face: tidal locking The Moon does spin. It turns exactly once for every trip around the Earth, so the same face always points our way. Walk around a chair while always facing it… Earth & Space3 min read Why one day on Mercury lasts two Mercury years Mercury circles the Sun in 88 Earth days and spins once every 58.6 days. That odd pairing, three spins for every two orbits, means one sunrise to the next… Earth & Space3 min read 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… Earth & Space4 min read 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… Earth & Space4 min read 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… Earth & Space6 min read