59
Earth is going to spin much faster over the next few months — so fast that several days are going to get shorter (www.livescience.com)
submitted 3 days ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/earthscience@mander.xyz
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Earth is expected to spin more quickly in the coming weeks, making some of our days unusually short. On July 9, July 22 and Aug. 5, the position of the moon is expected to affect Earth's rotation so that each day is between 1.3 and 1.51 milliseconds shorter than normal.

A day on Earth is the length of time needed for our planet to fully rotate on its axis — approximately 86,400 seconds, or 24 hours. But Earth's rotation is affected by a number of things, including the positions of the sun and moon, changes to Earth's magnetic field, and the balance of mass on the planet.

Since the relatively early days of our planet, Earth's rotation has been slowing down, making our days longer. Researchers found that about 1 billion to 2 billion years ago, a day on Earth was only 19 hours long. This is likely because the moon was closer to our planet, making its gravitational pull stronger than it is now and causing Earth to spin faster on its axis.

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] otacon239@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago

Aw man! I’m going to miss out all that extra sleep!

[-] moody@lemmings.world 11 points 3 days ago

I could really use that extra millisecond of sleep. Now I'm gonna be catching up all week.

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 1 points 3 days ago

And you're going to have less time in that week to catch up!

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Naps. Naps are cool.

[-] Albbi@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 days ago

Oh, so this is why writing a time keeping libraries on a computer is so hard. Forgot to account for the position of the Sun and the Moon.

[-] Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 3 days ago

Several years ago I was at a Microsoft event and I ran into a guy who said that his job is to keep the time on Windows in sync with the actual rotation of the Earth. I asked if he meant leap seconds, but he said that it's more to do with earthquakes and weather. I had no idea and looked into it a bit, it's fascinating.

[-] quetzaldilla@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

And some moron with an MBA is gonna lay off that guy and hurl the entire world's financial systems into chaos.

[-] Albbi@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago

That's a really cool job!

[-] catty@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

don't get computerphile started!

[-] catty@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Wait, so if I wanted to make a time travelling machine, I'd have to account for the moon's position in the past and now. That's too much.

Probably the real reason time travel hasn't happened yet.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 3 days ago

Say, with the faster spin those billions of years ago, how stronger were wind currents?

[-] Saleh@feddit.org 2 points 3 days ago

Is the earths rotation relevant to wind currents? With the days being longer that means more heat and cold can form in one area so the pressure differences that drive winds should have gotten greater over time.

this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
59 points (92.8% liked)

Earth, Environment, and Geosciences

2543 readers
36 users here now

Welcome to c/EarthScience @ Mander.xyz!

Notice Board

This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.

What is geoscience?

Geoscience (also called Earth Science) is the study of Earth. Geoscience includes so much more than rocks and volcanoes, it studies the processes that form and shape Earth's surface, the natural resources we use, and how water and ecosystems are interconnected. Geoscience uses tools and techniques from other science fields as well, such as chemistry, physics, biology, and math! Read more...

Quick Facts

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.

Jobs

Teaching Resources

Tools

Climate

Similar Communities

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Plants & Gardening

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Memes

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
fossilesque@mander.xyz
mishathings@mander.xyz
notsofunnycomment@mander.xyz
SciBot@mander.xyz
troyunrau@lemmy.ca