Fraser Cain on Nostr: Mars is Spinning Faster and Faster Before it retired, NASA's Mars Insight Lander sent ...
Mars is Spinning Faster and Faster
Before it retired, NASA's Mars Insight Lander sent home detailed data about the rotation of Mars. From these data, planetary scientists have discovered that the planet's rotation rate is accelerating by about four milliarcseconds per year, shortening its day by a fraction of a millisecond yearly. Scientists aren't exactly sure why it's happening, but it could be from ice accumulating at the polar caps, changing its center of mass, and increasing its rotation rate.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-insight-study-finds-mars-is-spinning-faster
Before it retired, NASA's Mars Insight Lander sent home detailed data about the rotation of Mars. From these data, planetary scientists have discovered that the planet's rotation rate is accelerating by about four milliarcseconds per year, shortening its day by a fraction of a millisecond yearly. Scientists aren't exactly sure why it's happening, but it could be from ice accumulating at the polar caps, changing its center of mass, and increasing its rotation rate.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-insight-study-finds-mars-is-spinning-faster