For nearly a billion years, Earth’s rotation stopped slowing down. Locked in a rare cosmic balance, the planet’s day remained ...

A billion years ago, days lasted 19 hours: the balance between the oceans, the atmosphere, and the Moon slowed down the Earth ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Resonating oscillations of a planet's atmosphere caused by gravitational tides and heating from ...

Ancient Chinese astronomers observed a solar eclipse in 709 BCE with remarkable detail. These old records are now helping ...

Using new data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, researchers believe they have solved a longstanding mystery of solar system science: the length of a day on Saturn. It’s 10 hours, 33 minutes and 38 ...

An instantaneous cessation of Earth's rotation would result in catastrophic, planet-wide devastation due to the inertia of objects on the surface moving at high speeds (approximately 1000 mph at the ...

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have measured the rotation rate of an extreme exoplanet by observing the varied brightness in its atmosphere. This is the first measurement of the ...

Time is out of joint on Venus. The planet’s thick air, which spins much faster than the solid globe, may push against the flanks of mountains and change Venus’ rotation rate. Computer simulations show ...

A planet's north pole is defined by its position relative to the solar system's invariable plane. The invariable plane is a fixed reference point perpendicular to the solar system's rotation. A planet ...