It turns out that the Earth does not revolve around the Sun? December 23rd, 2017
Probably, some of you have already watched a video on the Internet with the eloquent title “The Earth does not revolve around the Sun.” If you haven’t had time to read it yet, here they are at the beginning of the post and under the cut is the less informative first part. By the way, the first part collected almost three million views.
Let's find out if there is a sensation here...
If you look at how visitors to other sites reacted to the video, you begin to understand that it was in vain that astronomy was stopped being taught in schools, especially for middle school children. “Professionals,” by the way, also made their mark. On some sites, the content of this video was framed in the spirit of news about another discovery by scientists. True, given the quality of this very content, it turned out about the same as the showing of the Uzbek “Gates of Hell” by the central channels, which passed them off as the crater of the Chelyabinsk meteorite. Remember, we discussed that
If we talk about what we saw briefly, the author takes well-known facts, presenting them in a favorable light (did everyone notice the portal advertisement at first?), while wrapping everything in the shell of “Sensation” and “Shock”. According to the creator(s) of the video, it turns out that our planet does not orbit the Sun! What moves her, the Sun, and even the hair on the top of your head is a certain “spiral energy”. As proof, the author gives several examples with helices, including even a DNA molecule. As if these same examples cannot be found for the circle.
Here it should be noted that our planet really moves in a spiral, and this is quite logical, because the Sun itself also does not stand still, but moves in outer space at a speed of 217 kilometers per second. Thus, passing through its orbit and finding itself at the same point as a year ago, the Earth will be almost 7 billion kilometers from its previous position. If you look at all this from the side, then the planet is actually moving in a spiral. But this, excuse me, does not mean that the Earth does not revolve around the Sun. Gravity, for obvious reasons, has not yet been abolished.
The author, in fact, shows everything correctly, but presents it as “deception of the authorities.” Naturally, if society finds out that the Earth, hypothetically, does not revolve around the Sun (despite the fact that the star regularly rises in the east and sets in the west), then wars will begin in the world and chaos will reign. This is what the authorities are hiding. Comedy is no different. But what makes me laugh most is the impudence with which all this is presented. The video directly states that “You will not find information about the movement of the Solar System in our galaxy anywhere.” And the saddest thing is that some people believe in this, which reveals all the shortcomings of the modern education system. And all the arguments given by the authors are very well explained from a scientific point of view and fall into simple logic.
The material is correct. But the interpretation is false. Then it must be said that the Moon does not revolve around the Earth. The authors' knowledge is superficial, and their ability to analyze is close to zero. In gravitational systems, movement occurs relative to the center of mass along elliptical trajectories. In the Solar System, the center of mass practically coincides with the center of the Sun, since the mass of the Sun is something like 97-99% (I need to clarify, I don’t remember). But if the movement of the PLANETS is considered in the galactic system, then their rotational movement around the Sun is superimposed on the general movement of the Solar system around the center of mass of the Galaxy, etc. And so it turns out, we can say that they hid from us the fact that when we sit or we are lying down, then in fact we are moving, and even at cosmic speed
But it is worth noting that the videos themselves are made of very high quality, from the constellation of Orion at the very beginning, to the musical accompaniment from the group “Two Steps From Hell”. This is where all the positive aspects end. With their deduction, the bottom line is that we have destructive content that zombifies schoolchildren and other overly gullible individuals no worse than the evening TV shows that are so beloved by almost the entire country.
As man evolves, he has to overcome a number of misconceptions. This also applies to the brightest celestial objects - the Sun and Moon. In ancient times, people were sure that the Sun revolved around the Earth. Then it turned out that the Earth revolves around the Sun. And to this day, almost everyone adheres to this statement, without even thinking about the fact that in fact it is not correct.
Any high school student can understand this. But because of the blinders of “generally accepted opinion” placed on his eyes, even an outstanding student automatically submits to the erroneous majority. And, moreover, it is the excellent student who will be the first to go on the offensive - to defend his blinkered knowledge: why, we see that the Moon goes beyond the horizon and then appears again, that is, the Moon makes a revolution around the Earth, which means it revolves around the Earth.
Nobody argues with the fact that the Moon goes beyond the horizon and then returns again. But from the point of view of an observer located on the Moon, the Earth also makes similar movements - but this time relative to the lunar horizon. So, a natural and logical question arises: which planet revolves around which planet? And one more thing: both the Moon and the Sun move approximately the same across the sky, so ancient people were sure that both celestial bodies revolved around the Earth. But it turned out that they move in different ways: the Moon around the Earth, and the Earth around the Sun. Although, as we have already said, both are wrong.
Now let's look at how to do it correctly. To understand the movement of the Moon, Earth and Sun, we need to decide from what point of view we view this situation. We will not delve into the options; we will only say that in the general case, all celestial bodies will rotate (or make other movements) around the celestial body on which the observer is located. And if we adhere to this position, it will again lead us to the wrong result.
To eliminate errors of perception, it is necessary to get to the point that is actually in a stationary state and can be used as a “reliable” frame of reference. This point is the place where the Big Bang began (in the modern understanding of this phenomenon). The first celestial object, our Universe, actually revolves around this point. And here there really is a real movement in a circular orbit. What next?
We return to the Sun-Earth-Moon system. It is impossible to consider the Moon and Earth as an isolated system at rest. The Earth moves at very high speed, and this movement of the Earth must be taken into account. While the Moon tends to run “around” the Earth, the Earth moves a considerable distance. Because of this displacement, in each single “revolution” cycle, the trajectory of the Moon relative to the Earth never returns to its previous position, that is, it never closes into a circle or similar figure. Each subsequent point of the lunar trajectory shifts in the direction of the Earth’s movement at a speed equal to the geometric sum of the speed of the Earth’s movement “around” the Sun and the speed of the Moon’s movement “around” the Earth.
As a result, the Moon undergoes a complex periodic motion along cycloid . Exactly the same movement is performed by any point on the wheel rim in relation to the surface of the earth. And the planet Earth in this example coincides with the position of the hub of the same wheel and moves relative to the earth in a straight line. It is possible to approximately calculate the parameters of such movement of the Earth, Moon and Sun.
Rice. The movement of celestial bodies: the trajectory of the Earth (straight line) and the trajectory of the Moon (cycloid). The numbers indicate the time axis on the scale of a sequence of earthly days. It is also the direction of motion of the Earth-Moon system.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is 1 AU. (astronomical unit) is the radius of curvature of the Earth's "orbit". It shows the order of the length of the trajectory along which curvature occurs, similar to the curvature of the earth’s “orbit”. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is only 0.00257 AU. This value shows how many astronomical units the Moon can deviate from the Earth's course in one direction or another across the Earth's translational motion. This deviation is in the range of ±0.257% of the distance between the Sun and Earth.
This means that the width of the lunar cycloid is only 0.5% of the distance between the Sun and Earth. For comparison: if the distance between the Sun and the Earth is taken as 1 meter, then the beat of the Moon’s orbit will be only 5 millimeters, that is, the Moon will move almost in a straight line, the width of which is 5 millimeters. Moreover, this line will not be closed.
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The Earth, together with the planets, revolves around the sun and almost all people on Earth know this. A much smaller number of inhabitants of the planet already know that the Sun revolves around the center of our Milky Way galaxy. But that's not all. Our galaxy revolves around the center of the universe. Let's find out about it and watch interesting video footage.
It turns out that the entire solar system moves along with the Sun through the local interstellar cloud (the unchanging plane remains parallel to itself) at a speed of 25 km/s. This movement is directed almost perpendicular to the unchanging plane.
Perhaps here we need to look for explanations for the noticed differences in the structure of the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun, the stripes and spots of both hemispheres of Jupiter. In any case, this movement determines possible encounters between the solar system and matter scattered in one form or another in interstellar space. The actual movement of planets in space occurs along elongated helical lines (for example, the “stroke” of the screw of Jupiter’s orbit is 12 times greater than its diameter).
In 226 million years (galactic year), the solar system makes a complete revolution around the center of the galaxy, moving along an almost circular trajectory at a speed of 220 km/s.
Our Sun is part of a huge star system called the Galaxy (also called the Milky Way). Our Galaxy has the shape of a disk, similar to two plates folded at the edges. In its center is the rounded core of the Galaxy.
Our Galaxy - side view
If you look at our Galaxy from above, it looks like a spiral in which stellar matter is concentrated mainly in its branches, called galactic arms. The arms are located in the plane of the Galaxy's disk.
Our Galaxy - view from above
Our Galaxy contains more than 100 billion stars. The diameter of the Galaxy's disk is about 30 thousand parsecs (100,000 light years), and its thickness is about 1000 light years.
The stars within the disk move in circular paths around the center of the Galaxy, just as the planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun. The rotation of the Galaxy occurs clockwise when looking at the Galaxy from its north pole (located in the constellation Coma Berenices). The speed of rotation of the disk is not the same at different distances from the center: it decreases as it moves away from it.
The closer to the center of the Galaxy, the higher the density of stars. If we lived on a planet near a star located near the core of the Galaxy, then dozens of stars would be visible in the sky, comparable in brightness to the Moon.
However, the Sun is very far from the center of the Galaxy, one might say - on its outskirts, at a distance of about 26 thousand light years (8.5 thousand parsecs), near the plane of the galaxy. It is located in the Orion Arm, connected to two larger arms - the inner Sagittarius Arm and the outer Perseus Arm.
The Sun moves at a speed of about 220-250 kilometers per second around the center of the Galaxy and makes a complete revolution around its center, according to various estimates, in 220-250 million years. During its existence, the period of revolution of the Sun together with surrounding stars near the center of our stellar system is called the galactic year. But you need to understand that there is no common period for the Galaxy, since it does not rotate like a rigid body. During its existence, the Sun circled the Galaxy approximately 30 times.
The Sun's revolution around the center of the Galaxy is oscillatory: every 33 million years it crosses the galactic equator, then rises above its plane to a height of 230 light years and descends again to the equator.
Interestingly, the Sun makes a complete revolution around the center of the Galaxy in exactly the same time as the spiral arms. As a result, the Sun does not cross regions of active star formation, in which supernovae often erupt - sources of radiation destructive to life. That is, it is located in the sector of the Galaxy that is most favorable for the origin and maintenance of life.
The solar system is moving through the interstellar medium of our Galaxy much more slowly than previously thought, and no shock wave is forming at its leading edge. This was established by astronomers who analyzed the data collected by the IBEX probe, reports RIA Novosti.
“It can be said almost certainly that there is no shock wave in front of the heliosphere (the bubble that limits the Solar System from the interstellar medium), and that its interaction with the interstellar medium is much weaker and more dependent on magnetic fields than previously thought,” the scientists write in the article. published in the journal Science.
NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer), launched in June 2008, is designed to explore the boundary of the solar system and interstellar space - the heliosphere, located at a distance of approximately 16 billion kilometers from the Sun.
At this distance, the flow of charged particles from the solar wind and the strength of the Sun's magnetic field weaken so much that they can no longer overcome the pressure of the discharged interstellar matter and ionized gas. As a result, a heliosphere “bubble” is formed, filled with solar wind inside and surrounded by interstellar gas outside.
The Sun's magnetic field deflects the trajectory of charged interstellar particles, but has no effect on the neutral atoms of hydrogen, oxygen and helium, which freely penetrate into the central regions of the Solar System. The detectors of the IBEX satellite “catch” such neutral atoms. Their study allows astronomers to draw conclusions about the features of the solar system's border zone.
A group of scientists from the USA, Germany, Poland and Russia presented a new analysis of data from the IBEX satellite, according to which the speed of the solar system was lower than previously thought. At the same time, as new data indicate, a shock wave does not arise in the front part of the heliosphere.
“The sonic boom that occurs when a jet plane breaks the sound barrier can serve as an terrestrial example for a shock wave. When a plane reaches supersonic speed, the air in front of it can't get out of its way quickly enough, resulting in a shock wave,” said study lead author David McComas, as quoted in a press release from the Southwest Research Institute. USA).
For about a quarter of a century, scientists believed that the heliosphere was moving through interstellar space at a speed high enough for such a shock wave to form in front of it. However, new IBEX data showed that the solar system is actually moving through a local cloud of interstellar gas at a speed of 23.25 kilometers per second, which is 3.13 kilometers per second slower than previously thought. And this speed is below the limit at which a shock wave occurs.
"Although a shock wave exists in front of the bubbles surrounding many other stars, we found that our Sun's interaction with its environment does not reach the threshold at which a shock wave forms," McComas said.
Previously, the IBEX probe was engaged in mapping the boundary of the heliosphere and discovered a mysterious strip on the heliosphere with increased fluxes of energetic particles, which surrounded the “bubble” of the heliosphere. Also, with the help of IBEX, it was established that the speed of movement of the Solar system over the past 15 years, for inexplicable reasons, has decreased by more than 10%.
The universe is spinning like a spinning top. Astronomers have discovered traces of the rotation of the universe.
Until now, most researchers were inclined to believe that our universe is static. Or if it moves, it’s only a little. Imagine the surprise of a team of scientists from the University of Michigan (USA), led by Professor Michael Longo, when they discovered clear traces of the rotation of our universe in space. It turns out that from the very beginning, even during the Big Bang, when the Universe was just born, it was already rotating. It was as if someone had launched it like a spinning top. And she is still spinning and spinning.
The research was carried out as part of the international project “Sloan Digital Sky Survey”. And scientists discovered this phenomenon by cataloging the direction of rotation of about 16,000 spiral galaxies from the north pole of the Milky Way. At first, scientists tried to find evidence that the Universe has the properties of mirror symmetry. In this case, they reasoned, the number of galaxies that rotate clockwise and those that “spin” in the opposite direction would be the same, pravda.ru reports.
But it turned out that towards the north pole of the Milky Way, among spiral galaxies, counterclockwise rotation predominates, that is, they are oriented to the right. This trend is visible even at a distance of more than 600 million light years.
The symmetry violation is small, only about seven percent, but the probability that this is such a cosmic accident is somewhere around one in a million,” commented Professor Longo. “Our results are very important because they seem to contradict the almost universal belief that if you take a large enough scale, the Universe will be isotropic, that is, it will not have a clear direction.
According to experts, a symmetrical and isotropic Universe should have arisen from a spherically symmetrical explosion, which should have been shaped like a basketball. However, if at birth the Universe rotated around its axis in a certain direction, then the galaxies would maintain this direction of rotation. But, since they rotate in different directions, it follows that the Big Bang had a diversified direction. However, the Universe is most likely still spinning.
In general, astrophysicists had previously guessed about the violation of symmetry and isotropy. Their guesses were based on observations of other giant anomalies. These include traces of cosmic strings - incredibly extended defects of space-time of zero thickness, hypothetically born in the first moments after the Big Bang. The appearance of “bruises” on the body of the Universe - the so-called imprints from its past collisions with other universes. And also the movement of the “Dark Stream” - a huge stream of galactic clusters rushing at enormous speed in one direction.
>> Does the Sun rotate?
Does the Sun Rotate? around the axis: the movement of the layers of the star in the photo, the speed of the poles and the equator, the length of the day on the Sun, rotation around the center of the Milky Way.
Rotation of the Sun quite difficult to determine. It all depends on which part of the Sun we are talking about. Discouraged? This problem has puzzled astronomers for a long time. Let's look at how the rotation of the Sun changes.
A point on the solar equator takes 24.47 days to revolve around . Astronomers call this the sidereal rotation period, which is different from the Synodal period (the time it takes for a sunspot to turn back to face Earth). The rate of rotation of our star's axis decreases as we approach the poles, so the stellar rotation period can take up to 38 days for regions around the poles.
The rotation of the Sun can be noticed by observing. All spots move across its surface. This is part of the general rotation of the Sun around its own axis. Research shows that the Sun rotates differentially and not as a rigid body. This means that our star rotates faster at the equator and slower at its poles. and also have differential rotation.
And so, astronomers began measuring the speed of the rotation axis from an arbitrary position of 26 degrees on the equator; this is approximately the point where we see most sunspots. At the moment, rotation at the equator takes 25.38 days (this is the time required to turn and return to the same place in space).
Astronomers know that rotation occurs differently inside the Sun than on the surface. The interior, core and radiation zones rotate first. Then the outer layers begin to rotate and.
The solar system is constantly rotating around. The average rotation speed of our system is 828,000 km/h. In this case, our Sun will need 230 million years to orbit the Milky Way. The Milky Way is considered a spiral galaxy, consisting of a central bulge, four arms and a number of small segments. The sun is located next to the Orion arm, between the arms and. The size of our galaxy is one hundred thousand light years, and we are located at a distance of 28 thousand light years from the center. Quite recently, it was suggested that our galaxy is actually a spiral. This means that instead of a bulge of gas and stars at the core of the galaxy, there is a cluster of stars intersecting the central bulge.
Therefore, if someone asks what the rotation of the Sun's axis is, ask them: which part are they interested in?
The main parameters of Mars, which determine the influence on many properties of this planet, arose during the emergence of the Solar System. These include mass, axis tilt, period, and orbital shape. Successfully studying these characteristics is at the heart of the Mars project and the search for life on this planet.
Orbit of Mars. Reasons for rotation
The orbital movement is due to the influence of solar gravitational forces. The more massive an object, the greater its gravitational influence on other objects in space. The Sun has the largest mass in the Solar System. Its mass is 1.98892x1030 kilograms. Thanks to these characteristics, the Sun has a much greater gravitational force than the Earth and Mars combined. Recently, one can increasingly come across the statement that Mars and the other planets revolve around the center of mass of the solar system. And this is not a mistake, since scientists have established that the center of mass of our system is almost in the center of the Sun.
Due to the gravitational force of the star, Mars is pulled into orbit around the Sun. But why then does it rotate and not fall on the Sun? To find the answer, let's look at an example. A ball is tied to a long rope on one side, and its other end is fixed in the hand. If you spin this ball, it will rotate around your hand, but it will not be able to move further away than the length of the rope allows. Mars moves according to the same principle, the gravitational force of the Sun does not let go of it and forces it to move in orbit, and the centrifugal force that appears during circular motion tends to push the planet beyond the trajectory of its movement. The principle of the movement of Mars in space is based on this fragile balance between forces.
The period of Mars around the Sun is twice as long as that of Earth. It completes a full revolution around the Sun in 687 Earth days. Or 1.88, if measured in Earth years. However, this measurement reflects the change in the position of the planet relative to the stars and is called the sidereal period of rotation.
You can also calculate the period of revolution around the Sun relative to the Earth - this is called the synodic period of rotation. It represents the gap between conjunctions of a planet at a specific point in the sky, usually this point is the Sun. The synodic period of the red planet is – 2.135.
Movement of Mars. Basic parameters
The characteristics of the movement of Mars in orbit and around its axis have much in common with those on Earth. However, the axial motion of Mars is more chaotic and unstable than the motion of the Earth. During movement, the Martian axis can tilt chaotically and unpredictably, this is explained by the absence of a satellite as massive as the Moon, which would regulate and stabilize the movement of the planet by force of gravity. Its satellites, Phobos and Deimos, are negligible, their influence on the rotation speed is insignificant and is not taken into account in calculations.
Characteristics of the Martian orbit
Mars moves around the Sun in a circular orbit, which is not a circle, but a complex elliptical figure. The orbit of Mars is one and a half times more distant from the sun than the Earth's. It has an elliptical shape, which was formed under the influence of the gravitational forces of other planets in the solar system. Scientists have found that 1.35 million years ago its orbit was an almost even circle. The eccentricity of the Martian orbit (a characteristic that shows how much the orbit deviates from a circle) is 0.0934. Its orbit is the second most eccentric in the system, with Mercury in first place. For comparison, the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit is 0.017.
When the planet is at the point closest to the Sun - perihelion, the orbital radius is 206.7 million kilometers; when it is at the maximum distance from the Sun - aphelion, the radius increases to 249.2 million kilometers. Due to the difference in distances, the amount of solar energy entering the planet changes; it is 20-30%, so there is a wide range of temperatures on Mars.
One of the main characteristics is orbital speed. The average speed of rotation around the Sun is 24.13 km/s.
Mars is farther from the Sun than the Earth, so the radius of the Martian orbit also differs in a larger direction. We have already found out that the Martian trajectory is an elongated ellipse, so its radius is not a constant value; the average distance to the Sun is 228 million kilometers.
Every 26 months, the Earth catches up with Mars in orbit. This is due to the difference in the speed of movement of the planets (Earth’s is 30 kilometers per second) and the smaller diameter of the orbit. At this time, the distance between the planets is minimal, therefore it is most convenient to plan space missions to study the planet during this period. This reduces fuel and time costs by 6-8 months, which by space standards is not that much.
Axial rotation
Mars is not limited to moving only in orbit, it also rotates around its axis. The equatorial rotation speed is 868.22 km/h, for comparison, on Earth it is 1674.4 km/h. A day on the red planet is 24 hours long if you're looking at an average solar day, or 24 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds if you're taking a sidereal day into account. It turns out that the red planet rotates only 40 minutes slower than Earth.
Rotation provides not only the cycle of day and night on the planet, it also changes the shape of the planet under the influence of centrifugal force, flattening it from the poles by 0.3%. The change in shape is not so noticeable due to the high density of the planet.
The inclination of the Martian rotation axis is 25.19°, the Earth's is 23.5°. The change of Martian winter-spring seasons occurs due to the inclination of the rotation axis and the eccentricity of the orbit. The change of winter and summer seasons on Mars occurs in antiphase, that is, when summer begins in one hemisphere, winter cold invariably begins in the other. But due to the shape of the orbit, the duration of the seasons here can be extended, or perhaps shortened. So in the northern hemisphere, summer and spring last 371 sol. They occur when Mars is in the part of its orbit that is furthest from the Sun. Therefore, the Martian summer in the north is long but cool, and in the south it is short and warm. On Earth, the seasons are distributed more evenly, since the Earth's orbit is close to a perfect circle in shape. It is worth noting that Mars rotates around its axis more chaotically than planets with more massive satellites, which can at any time affect the duration of the winter-spring seasons.
Our planet is in constant motion. Together with the Sun, it moves in space around the center of the Galaxy. And she, in turn, moves in the Universe. But the rotation of the Earth around the Sun and its own axis plays the greatest importance for all living things. Without this movement, conditions on the planet would be unsuitable for supporting life.
solar system
According to scientists, the Earth as a planet in the solar system was formed more than 4.5 billion years ago. During this time, the distance from the luminary practically did not change. The speed of the planet's movement and the gravitational force of the Sun balanced its orbit. It's not perfectly round, but it's stable. If the gravity of the star had been stronger or the speed of the Earth had noticeably decreased, then it would have fallen into the Sun. Otherwise, sooner or later it would fly into space, ceasing to be part of the system.
The distance from the Sun to the Earth makes it possible to maintain optimal temperature on its surface. The atmosphere also plays an important role in this. As the Earth rotates around the Sun, the seasons change. Nature has adapted to such cycles. But if our planet were at a greater distance, the temperature on it would become negative. If it had been closer, all the water would have evaporated, since the thermometer would have exceeded the boiling point.
The path of a planet around a star is called an orbit. The trajectory of this flight is not perfectly circular. It has an ellipse. The maximum difference is 5 million km. The closest point of the orbit to the Sun is at a distance of 147 km. It's called perihelion. Its land passes in January. In July, the planet is at its maximum distance from the star. The greatest distance is 152 million km. This point is called aphelion.
The rotation of the Earth around its axis and the Sun ensures a corresponding change in daily patterns and annual periods.
For humans, the movement of the planet around the center of the system is imperceptible. This is because the mass of the Earth is enormous. Nevertheless, every second we fly about 30 km in space. It seems unrealistic, but these are the calculations. On average, it is believed that the Earth is located at a distance of about 150 million km from the Sun. It makes one full revolution around the star in 365 days. The distance traveled per year is almost a billion kilometers.
The exact distance that our planet travels in a year, moving around the star, is 942 million km. Together with her we move through space in an elliptical orbit at a speed of 107,000 km/hour. The direction of rotation is from west to east, that is, counterclockwise.
The planet does not complete a full revolution in exactly 365 days, as is commonly believed. In this case, about six more hours pass. But for the convenience of chronology, this time is taken into account for a total of 4 years. As a result, one additional day “accumulates”; it is added in February. This year is considered a leap year.
The speed of rotation of the Earth around the Sun is not constant. It has deviations from the average value. This is due to the elliptical orbit. The difference between the values is most pronounced at the perihelion and aphelion points and is 1 km/sec. These changes are invisible, since we and all the objects around us move in the same coordinate system.
Change of seasons
The Earth's rotation around the Sun and the tilt of the planet's axis make the seasons possible. This is less noticeable at the equator. But closer to the poles, the annual cyclicity is more pronounced. The northern and southern hemispheres of the planet are heated unevenly by the energy of the Sun.
Moving around the star, they pass four conventional orbital points. At the same time, alternately twice during the six-month cycle they find themselves further or closer to it (in December and June - the days of the solstices). Accordingly, in a place where the surface of the planet warms up better, the ambient temperature there is higher. The period in such a territory is usually called summer. In the other hemisphere it is noticeably colder at this time - it is winter there.
After three months of such movement with a periodicity of six months, the planetary axis is positioned in such a way that both hemispheres are in the same conditions for heating. At this time (in March and September - the days of the equinox) the temperature regimes are approximately equal. Then, depending on the hemisphere, autumn and spring begin.
Earth's axis
Our planet is a rotating ball. Its movement is carried out around a conventional axis and occurs according to the principle of a top. By resting its base on the plane in an untwisted state, it will maintain balance. When the rotation speed weakens, the top falls.
The earth has no support. The planet is affected by the gravitational forces of the Sun, Moon and other objects of the system and the Universe. Nevertheless, it maintains a constant position in space. The speed of its rotation, obtained during the formation of the core, is sufficient to maintain relative equilibrium.
The earth's axis does not pass perpendicularly through the planet's globe. It is inclined at an angle of 66°33´. The rotation of the Earth around its axis and the Sun makes possible the change of seasons. The planet would “tumble” in space if it did not have a strict orientation. There would be no talk of any constancy of environmental conditions and life processes on its surface.
Axial rotation of the Earth
The rotation of the Earth around the Sun (one revolution) occurs throughout the year. During the day it alternates between day and night. If you look at the Earth's North Pole from space, you can see how it rotates counterclockwise. It completes a full rotation in approximately 24 hours. This period is called a day.
The speed of rotation determines the speed of day and night. In one hour, the planet rotates approximately 15 degrees. The speed of rotation at different points on its surface is different. This is due to the fact that it has a spherical shape. At the equator, the linear speed is 1669 km/h, or 464 m/sec. Closer to the poles this figure decreases. At the thirtieth latitude, the linear speed will already be 1445 km/h (400 m/sec).
Due to its axial rotation, the planet has a somewhat compressed shape at the poles. This movement also “forces” moving objects (including air and water flows) to deviate from their original direction (Coriolis force). Another important consequence of this rotation is the ebb and flow of tides.
Change of day and night
A spherical object is only half illuminated by a single light source at a certain moment. In relation to our planet, in one part of it there will be daylight at this moment. The unlit part will be hidden from the Sun - it is night there. Axial rotation makes it possible to alternate these periods.
In addition to the light regime, the conditions for heating the surface of the planet with the energy of the luminary change. This cyclicality is important. The speed of change of light and thermal regimes is carried out relatively quickly. In 24 hours, the surface does not have time to either heat up excessively or cool down below the optimal level.
The rotation of the Earth around the Sun and its axis at a relatively constant speed is of decisive importance for the animal world. Without a constant orbit, the planet would not remain in the optimal heating zone. Without axial rotation, day and night would last for six months. Neither one nor the other would contribute to the origin and preservation of life.
Uneven rotation
Throughout its history, humanity has become accustomed to the fact that the change of day and night occurs constantly. This served as a kind of standard of time and a symbol of the uniformity of life processes. The period of rotation of the Earth around the Sun is influenced to a certain extent by the ellipse of the orbit and other planets in the system.
Another feature is the change in the length of the day. The Earth's axial rotation occurs unevenly. There are several main reasons. Seasonal variations associated with atmospheric dynamics and precipitation distribution are important. In addition, a tidal wave directed against the direction of the planet’s movement constantly slows it down. This figure is negligible (for 40 thousand years per 1 second). But over 1 billion years, under the influence of this, the length of the day increased by 7 hours (from 17 to 24).
The consequences of the Earth's rotation around the Sun and its axis are being studied. These studies are of great practical and scientific importance. They are used not only to accurately determine stellar coordinates, but also to identify patterns that can influence human life processes and natural phenomena in hydrometeorology and other areas.
