NASA Says Mars' Rotation Is Speeding Up, , While Earth Slows Down.
'Newsweek' reports that the length of days on Mars is getting shorter as the planet has been observed spinning faster and faster.
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According to scientists, the Red Planet's rotation has increased at a rate of about 4 milliarcseconds per year.
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A paper published in the journal 'Nature' details how the Martian day has been shortening by a fraction of a millisecond every year.
Now, a martian day, otherwise known as a Sol, lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
What we're looking for are variations that are just a few tens of centimeters over the course of a Martian year.
It takes a very long time and a lot of data to accumulate before we can even see these variations, Sebastien Le Maistre, Lead author and RISE's principal investigator, via 'Newsweek'.
Scientists looked at data from the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment, or RISE, onboard NASA's Insight Mars lander.
The instrument measured the precise rotation of Mars, as well as the planet's wobble.
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It's a historic experiment.
We have spent a lot of time and energy preparing for the experiment and anticipating these discoveries.
But despite this, we were still surprised along the way—and it's not over, since RISE still has a lot to reveal about Mars, Sebastien Le Maistre, Lead author and RISE's principal investigator, via 'Newsweek'.
'Newsweek' reports that Earth's rotation has actually been slowing down over the past few centuries.
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Despite this, 2020 saw 28 of the shortest days recorded since records started being kept in the 1960s.
On July 19, 2020, the Earth completed its rotation 1.47 milliseconds short of 24 hours, and on July 26 it was 1.5 milliseconds fast.
