When we talk about the movement of the Earth in our Solar System we can think of motion and translation. They are the two most popular movements. Some of them are the source of day and night and other sources have the seasons of the year. But these movements are not the only ones. There is another move that is just as important and not as well known as the move and the first move.
In this article, we will talk about the four movements of our planet around the Sun and the importance of each of them. Want to know more about it? Just keep reading.
This is the most popular move with translation. However, there are still some important features that you may not know about. But it doesn’t matter, because we’re going to go over them all. We begin by explaining what this movement means. It refers to the rotation of the Earth on its own axis in the west and east. It is considered anti-clockwise. The Earth revolves around itself in an average of 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds.
As you can see, due to this movement of movement during the day and night. This happens because the Sun is stationary and only shines on the surface of the Earth in front of it. The other side will be dark and it will be night. This effect can be seen during the day, looking at the shadows after hours. We can appreciate how the Earth is moving to create shadows somewhere else.
One of the consequences of this movement is that migration is a major part of the world. Thanks to this warm field we can live on Earth and are constantly protected from radiation from the solar wind. It also allows life on Earth to exist in space.
If we consider the situation at every point of the world, the speed is not the same as spinning in all directions. If we measure the speed from the equator or the poles, it is different. At the equator, it will travel far enough to turn its axis and it will travel at a speed of 1600 km/h. If we choose a point at the northern latitude of 45 degrees, we can see that it rotates at 1073 km / h.
Translational movement
We begin to analyze the second of the complex movements of the Earth. It is the movement of the Earth in relation to its orbit around the Sun. This equation describes an elliptical motion of the object in places close to the Sun and other times further away.
Summer months are thought to be hotter because the Earth is closer to the Sun than winter. It is similar to thinking that even if we are far away, the heat will be less for us than if we are close. However, the opposite is true. In summer we are closer to the Sun than in winter. What determines the length of the seasons is not the distance from the Earth relative to the Sun but the intensity of the sun’s rays. In winter, the sun’s rays hit our planet in a more favorable way, and in summer longer. This is why there are many hours of sunlight in the summer and a lot of heat.
The Earth has 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds to make one complete revolution on its axis of translation. So, every four years we have a leap year in February which is one more day. This is done to fix the menus and keep them closed.
The Earth’s orbit around the Sun has a radius of 938 million kilometers and is kept at an average distance of 150 km from it. The speed at which we travel is 000 km / h. Despite the great speed, we do not appreciate it thanks to the gravity of the Earth.
Aphelion and perihelion
The path that our planet makes before the Sun is called the ecliptic and passes over the equator at the beginning of the season and falls. They are called equinoxes. In this state, day and night are the same. At places far from the ecliptic we have the summer solstice and the winter solstice. In these points, the day is the longest and the night is the shortest (in the summer solstice) and the night is the longest with the shortest day (in the winter solstice). During this time, the sun’s rays fall on one of the hemispheres, warming it again. So, while it’s winter in the northern hemisphere, it’s summer in the south and vice versa.
The translation of the Earth on the Sun has a period at the farthest point called Aphelion until the month of July. On the other hand, the Earth’s closest point to the Sun is perihelion until the month of January.
Application of Precision
It is the slow and slow change of the Earth in the center of the axis of rotation. This movement is called the precession of the Earth and is caused by the force of the Earth-Sun system. This movement is directly related to the amount of sunlight that hits the earth’s surface. Now this axis has an angle of 23.43 degrees.
This tells us that the Earth’s axis of rotation does not always point to the same star (Pole), but rotates in a clockwise direction, causing the Earth to move in a motion similar to the top of a spiral. A complete rotation of the precession axis takes about 25,700 years, so it is not impressive on a human scale. However, if we measure it with geological time we can see that it has a significant relationship with the periods of glaciation.
Nutation movement
This is the last great movement of our planet. It is a small and uneven movement that depends on the axis of rotation of all similar objects that turn on their axis. Take gyros and spinning wheels, for example.
If we analyze the Earth, this movement of the oscillation of the axis of rotation is related to its normal position in the celestial sphere. This movement is caused by the force exerted by the Earth’s gravity and the attraction between the moon, the sun, and the earth.
This slight wobble of the Earth’s axis is due to the balance and gravity of the Moon. The nutation period is 18 years.