Questions tagged [earth]

Questions regarding the planet on which humans live; the third planet from the Sun.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
3 votes
0 answers
57 views

Why the Earth revolves? [duplicate]

Why do the Earth or any other planet continue to revolve around the sun or a star in general and that also with constant time period? What is the reason behind it? Other than gravitational force is ...
Devgeet Patel's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
682 views

How stable are Lissajous orbits?

Now that the Gaia Space Telescope is on it's way to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrangian point (SEL2), I start wondering about the stability of Gaia's orbit there. The Planck Telescope is already there, as was ...
Alexander Janssen's user avatar
16 votes
6 answers
7k views

Why don't we have 2 Summers and 2 Winters?

Due to Earth's elliptical orbit, its distance from Sun varies by almost 5 million Kilometers (147 million Kilometers at closest point & 152 million Kilometers at farthest point, i.e. almost 3% of ...
kmdhrm's user avatar
  • 279
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

How can the Earth's rotation speed up? [closed]

It is known as a fact that Earth's rotation is slowing every year, that's why we sometimes have 61 seconds long minutes. In the Java documentation of Time : http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/...
Fabinout's user avatar
  • 211
11 votes
1 answer
164 views

Is there a pattern between the mass of a body and the mass of orbiting objects around it?

I was looking at Wikipedia's Solar system page, and it says that Sun represents 99.86% of the whole solar system mass. I found that pretty huge. So i calculated ratio of masses : Earth / (Earth + ...
Thibault's user avatar
  • 1,324
12 votes
1 answer
4k views

How do people measure the distance between the Earth and The Moon?

How do people measure the distance between the Earth and The Moon? What methods were used? Where can I find the official data?
user3052801's user avatar
35 votes
3 answers
4k views

Could any known, living organisms on Earth survive on Mars?

No life has been discovered outside of Earth (yet?), but do we know if anything that would be considered "living" on Earth could conquer Mars? (or maybe Venus?) With the Mars One project on the way, ...
Thibault's user avatar
  • 1,324
12 votes
2 answers
897 views

Could Venus be a source of Earth's apparent overabundance of water?

I've watched documentaries about the solar system, where it is suggested that Venus once had oceans of liquid water similar to those that cover most of Earth today. Venus is now in a period of ...
db9dreamer's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
38k views

What is the distance that the Moon travels during one orbit around the Earth?

Also, does it always take the same amount of time, or does it fractionally differ on each revolution?
Asadullah Ali's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
2k views

What effect does the Earth's rotation have on plate tectonics? [closed]

I've been reading up on plate tectonics and found that there are several different driving forces involved. One of the main categories of driving force mentioned on Wikipedia is forces related to the ...
called2voyage's user avatar
  • 6,254
10 votes
1 answer
15k views

How would Earth's climate differ if it's axis were tilted around 90 degrees like Uranus? [closed]

As the title states, what would the effect on Earth's climate be if it's axis were tilted approximately 90 degrees like Uranus? I'm specifically wondering about the effects on seasons, temperature, ...
Fezter's user avatar
  • 527
13 votes
1 answer
448 views

Changes to Earth's orbit

Any time a spacecraft comes in close proximity to a planet and if the spacecraft has the right angle then it is able to use the planet's velocity to move itself further into space. According to ...
kalpetros's user avatar
  • 231
12 votes
1 answer
3k views

How much of an effect does the moon have on Earth's liquid mantle?

The gravitational pull of the moon is enough to create tidal forces of large bodies of liquid, i.e the sea. I was having a conversation the other day about how to terraform Mars, and someone ...
user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
529 views

Why is the Earth's center still hot after millions of years? [closed]

Why didn't the center of the earth cool after millions or billions of years? What keeps it hot?
Mario's user avatar
  • 221
4 votes
0 answers
218 views

Day and night temperature on an earthlike planet with longer rotational period [closed]

I'm trying to understand the climatic effects of the far future scenario of an Earth-like planet with a reduced rotational speed caused by tidal locking with the moon (day-night period of 28 days, one ...
sum1stolemyname's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
5k views

Does the Moon's magnetic field affect Earth's magnetic field?

I wanted to ask a question; it's simple but I cannot find any possible and perfect solution. Earth has poles, North and South. By which we can get directions using a compass or a needle compass, but ...
Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
504 views

Were effects of a planetary magnetic field reversal observed on other planets than Earth?

From geological records in rocks and minerals we know that the magnetic field of Earth changed its polarity multiple times in the history. See Geomagnetic reversal. Was a similar process of a ...
pabouk - Ukraine stay strong's user avatar
27 votes
2 answers
25k views

Why does the Earth have a tilt of ~23°?

Is there a reason that the Earth has the tilt that it does (~23°)? How do we know which way is supposed to be 0°? Does this tilt have major consequences on the planet? Has it changed and will it ...
Jackson's user avatar
  • 567
11 votes
2 answers
278 views

How often does Earth cross the galaxy regions with higher supernovae activity?

According to Summa Technologiae, a book by a Polish author Stanisław Lem that based his science fiction novels on scientific research of the era, the Earth crossed in the moment of forming of life the ...
Danubian Sailor's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
448 views

Earth and ferromagnetism [closed]

Earth's core is a giant liquid iron ball actually. If I know well, the magnetic field of our planet (that protects the surface from some particles comes from the Sun) can exist because as Earth ...
Zoltán Schmidt's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
6k views

Why isn't Earth a perfect sphere? [closed]

In general, almost everyone describes Earth as an perfect sphere, but in reality it isn't a perfect sphere. Is there any specific reason why Earth is not perfect sphere ?
Hash's user avatar
  • 221
20 votes
2 answers
6k views

Why is the Moon receding from the Earth due to tides? Is this typical for other moons?

After reading the Q&A Is the moon moving further away from Earth and closer to the Sun? Why? about the tides transferring energy to the Moon and pushing it from Earth, I have a question: How is ...
Danubian Sailor's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why does Mars appear to retreat across the sky?

If you plot the movement of Mars across the Earth's sky it appears to move back on itself during its orbit. Why does it appear to have a loop shape from Earth?
user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
663 views

If the moon wasn't receding from Earth, what would be the impact on the weather and tides?

Moon is slowly receding from Earth, which means that after its formation it was much closer to the Earth than now. How would weather look like if it wasn't receding at it would be now as close as at ...
Danubian Sailor's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
21k views

What is the current theory for the formation of the Earth's Moon?

Given that the Earth and Moon are often said in the literature to have very similar geochemistry, what is the current theory as to how the Earth's Moon formed?
user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
4k views

Why do stars appear to twinkle?

Sometimes at night you will look up to the stars and they will appear to twinkle, getting brighter and darker in bursts. Why does this happen? Is this because of our atmosphere? Would they twinkle ...
user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
3k views

Do other planets in our solar system experience eclipses or is this unique to Earth?

Here on Earth we get to experience lunar and solar eclipses. Is this pure coincidence that everything happens to line up? Do other planets in the solar system experience this phenomenon or is this ...
user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
449 views

What is the relevance of the Tropics and the Polar Circles? Do they Exist on other planets?

The middle line is the equator, the second and fourth line are the tropics, the first and fifth are the polar circles. What is the relevance of these bands on Earth? Do these exist on other planets? ...
user avatar

1
8 9 10 11
12