Researchers have found that periodic jumps generated in the earth’s core change the length of a day every 5.9 years on our planet. They found that variations in the length of the day over periods of between one and ten years are caused by processes in the Earth’s core. The Earth rotates once per day,…
Peanuts is a popular comics strip created by Charles M. Schulz. One of the main characters, Snoopy, a beagle, is the official mascot for the US astronauts. On January 27, 1967, the launch test for the Apollo 1 mission went wrong when the crew cabin caught fire killing all three astronauts on board. The Apollo…
Venus is only 40 million kilometres closer to the sun than we are. Its size is very much like the earth. But this small distance of 40 million kilometres has made all the difference. Venus and Earth are often called twins because of their similar size, mass, density, composition and gravity. However, Venus is the hottest…
Asteroids are small rocky bodies that orbit the sun. Most asteroids orbit in a belt between Mars and Jupiter called the asteroid belt. They are sometimes called planetoids or minor planets. There are an estimated 400,000 asteroids. However, the large asteroids of about 100 km diameter are few. Some large asteroids have their own moon,…
The earth spins or rotates on its axis every day. It takes 24 hours to rotate once on its axis. To calculate the rate of rotation, the circumference of the earth at the equator, which is 25,000 miles, is divided by the total time taken per rotation, which is 24 hours. The value comes to…
Space scientists estimate that daily about 40 tons of cosmic or space dust falls on earth. They are studying this dust by collecting them using high-altitude aircraft and satellites. The origin of this dust is not clear. However, it is speculated that in space the asteroids, meteors and comets collide, thus producing dust.
