Earth's rotation

Rare card · No. 44206

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. As viewed from the northern polar star Polaris, Earth turns counterclockwise. The North Pole, also called the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere at which Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This point is distinct from Earth's north magnetic pole. The South Pole is the other point at which Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica. Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars (see below). Earth's rotation is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal effects the Moon has on Earth's rotation. Atomic clocks show that the modern day is longer by about 1.7 milliseconds...

Read on Wikipedia · Image NASA/EPIC, edit by Tdadamemd, Public domain