Nearby planets can affect how one planet 'wobbles' on its spin axis, which contributes to seasons. Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library via Getty Images Spring, summer, fall and winter – the seasons on ...

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the ...

Spring, summer, fall, and winter — the seasons on Earth change every few months, around the same time every year. It’s easy to take this cycle for granted here on Earth, but not every planet has a ...

Tracking the rotation speed of solid planets, like the Earth and Mars, is a relatively simple task: Just measure the time it takes for a surface feature to roll into view again. But giant gas planets ...

A newly analyzed planetary system has turned up a world orbiting at such a skewed angle that it defies the neat textbook picture of how planets are supposed to form and settle around their stars. The ...

Spring, summer, fall and winter – the seasons on Earth change every few months, around the same time every year. It’s easy to take this cycle for granted here on Earth, but not every planet has a ...

Humanity has spent thousands of years understanding billion of years of universal history. Here’s a dizzying look at why the cosmos spin the way they do. *For the why behind this “rotation ...

A globe was the first thing I ever bought with my own money. I was maybe 5 years old, and I was really excited to take it home. As I quickly discovered, you can spin it in the direction that the earth ...

A typical desk globe is designed to be a geometric sphere and to rotate smoothly when you spin it. Our actual planet is far less perfect — in both shape and in rotation. Earth is not a perfect sphere.

A planet's year length depends on its distance from the Sun. Planets closer to the Sun have shorter years. A planet's rotation speed is unrelated to its year length. Planets' orbital speeds vary ...

This article was originally featured on The Conversation. Spring, summer, fall and winter–the seasons on Earth change every few months, around the same time every year. It’s easy to take this cycle ...