Scientists' Animation Shows Solar System Planets' Rotation In One Globe

We may have seen animations of the planets in our solar system rotating, but not like the one recently shared by a planetary scientist. In his video, one can see slices of the solar system's planets rotating in a single globe.

Solar System Animation

The planets in our solar system are all different, from composition to rotation speeds and orientation. The concept of how the planets are rotating at different speeds, around the Sun and on their own, is not always easy to grasp. Fortunately, planetary scientists James O’Donoghue of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and formerly of NASA created an animation that could help us visualize just how differently the solar system’s planets are rotating.

In the video, he shows a single globe with slices of each planet rotating at their own speeds, giving as a clearer image of how differently the planets move. For instance, the video clearly shows how much faster Jupiter is spinning compared to Earth, as well as how Uranus and Venus are spinning in the opposite direction compared to the others, with Uranus spinning more obviously in the opposite direction and Venus moving so slowly it looks as though it is barely moving.

In a tweet, O’Donoghue explained that he had the idea to make the video last December but did not think that anyone would be interested in it.

Since he released the video earlier in December, it has garnered over 200,000 views on Twitter and over 80,000 views on YouTube.

Planet Rotation

As seen above from the North Pole, every planet in our solar system rotates counterclockwise except for Venus and Uranus. This is likely because they were hit by asteroids or large planetoids early in their histories, causing disturbances in their original rotation.

Because the planets rotate at different speeds, this also means that one day on each planet varies greatly. For instance, as we know, a single solar day on Earth is 24 hours, but on Mercury, a single solar day is 1,408 hours. It is even longer for Venus, which has a single solar day that lasts for 5,832 hours.

The fastest among the planets to complete one rotation are the gas giants, with Jupiter completing a day in 10 hours, Saturn in 11 hours, Uranus in 17 hours, and Neptune in just 16 hours. The closest single day to Earth is Mars, which takes 25 hours to complete one rotation.