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How Earth's rotation is making today feel like the shortest day ever
This phenomenon, though unnoticeable in daily life, significantly impacts high-precision timekeeping systems like atomic clocks and GPS.
Scientists at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service suggest the acceleration is due to a subtle shift in the Moon 's orbital alignment, reducing 'tidal braking'.
However, other experts, such as Moscow State University astronomer Leonid Zotov, state the cause remains unexplained, possibly originating from within the Earth.
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is considering implementing a 'negative leap second' for the first time, potentially around 2029, to resynchronize global time.
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Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Daily Mail
What would happen if the Earth continues to spin faster? Stronger hurricanes, disastrous earthquakes and catastrophic flooding, expert says
Scientists have warned that this summer could include some of the shortest days of your entire life. On July 22 and August 5, experts predict the day will be 1.38 and 1.51 milliseconds shorter than average, respectively. This is because the planet's rotation has entered an unexpected period of acceleration, shaving a millisecond or so off the length of a solar day. But what would happen if the world just kept getting faster? Given that a blink takes 100 milliseconds, you are unlikely to notice any big changes for a long time. However, scientists say that unchecked acceleration would eventually lead to disastrous consequences. If Earth were spinning just 100 miles per hour faster than it does now, the world would be hit by stronger hurricanes, catastrophic flooding, and the collapse of satellite networks. And, if the world were to double its speed, it would likely be the end of life as we know it. One mile per hour faster On average, it takes the planet 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds, to complete one full rotation, which is called a solar day. Small fluctuations like the location of the moon or volcanic eruptions can shift this around a millisecond in either direction, but the rotation is generally fairly stable. Because the Earth is a sphere, its circumference is smaller near the poles than at the equator, so the planet's surface moves faster the further you get from the poles. Someone standing at the equator is rotating in space at around 1,037 mph (1,668 kmph) while somebody in London is only moving at about 646 mph (1,041 kmph). Compared to these speeds, an increase of just one mile per hour might not seem like a big difference. The days would be about a minute and a half shorter overall, which our body clocks probably wouldn't notice right away. Witold Fraczek, an analyst at ESRI, a mapping software firm, told Popular Science: 'It might take a few years to notice it.' However, an unexpected effect is that satellites in orbit would soon be knocked out of sync. Some satellites are 'geosynchronous', meaning they move at the same speed as Earth's rotation to stay over the same location. If the Earth speeds up, those satellites will lose their position and navigation, communication, and weather monitoring services would start to fail. However, some satellites carry fuel to adjust their orbit, and others could be replaced, so the results should not be disastrous. Mr Fraczek says: 'These could disturb the life and comfort of some people, but should not be catastrophic to anybody. The bigger impact is that water would start to move from the poles to the equator due to the increased centrifugal forces. Even at just one mile per hour, this would cause sea levels to rise by a few inches around the equator. For cities already at or very near sea level, this could lead to devastating flooding. 100 miles per hour faster If the Earth kept accelerating until it was moving 100 miles per hour faster at the equator, this would start to trigger seriously dangerous consequences. Rather than rising by a few inches, these speeds would start to drown the equator as water rushed down from the poles. Mr Fraczek says: 'I think the Amazon Basin, Northern Australia, and not to mention the islands in the equatorial region, they would all go under water. 'How deep underwater, I'm not sure, but I'd estimate about 30 to 65 feet.' For anyone who survived the flooding, the world would start to become a much more hostile place. The solar day would now only last 22 hours, knocking our circadian rhythms out of their natural balance. The effect would be like setting your body clock back two hours every day without being given a chance to adjust. Could the world keep getting faster? It is extremely unlikely that the world will start to spin faster. In fact, the world is actually slowing down over time. About 4.4 billion years ago, the planet was spinning so fast that days lasted four minutes. But this slowed down after a large object hit Earth and created the moon. The only way Earth could speed up is if a large object hits at just the right angle. But this would likely liquify the planet's crust, so no humans would survive to see the results. Studies have shown that changes like daylight saving lead to increased rates of heart attacks, strokes, and driving accidents - this would be even more severe. Additionally, Earth's weather would start to become more extreme. NASA astronomer Dr Sten Odenwald says: 'Temperature difference is still going to be the main driver of winds. However, at these speeds, Dr Odenwald says that 'hurricanes will spin faster, and there will be more energy in them.' This is due to something called the Coriolis effect, which gives hurricanes their rotational energy. If the Earth didn't spin, winds would blow down from the North Pole to the equator in a straight line. But as the Earth rotates, the wind becomes deflected eastward, and this is what gives a hurricane its spin. If the world starts to spin faster, the winds would be deflected more, and the Coriolis effect would become stronger. Dr Odenwald says: 'That effectively makes the rotation more severe.' 1,000 miles per hour faster or more At 1,000 miles per hour faster, Earth would be rotating roughly twice as fast as it does today, with disastrous consequences. Mr Fraczek says: 'It would clearly be a disaster.' The centrifugal forces would pull hundreds of feet of water towards the equator. 'Except for the highest mountains, such as Kilimanjaro or the highest summits of the Andes, I think everything in the equatorial region would be covered with water,' says Mr Fraczek. At 1,000 miles per hour faster, the centrifugal forces generated by spinning would also be much stronger. This would make it easier for water to escape the force of gravity and evaporate up into the atmosphere. The already flooded regions of the equator would experience near-constant rain and would be constantly shrouded in fog and mist. At really extreme speeds of around 17,000 miles per hour (27,350 kmph), 17 times faster than normal, the centrifugal forces would be powerful enough to overwhelm gravity. Anyone at the equator would become weightless as centrifugal force counteracted gravity, and you might even start to get 'reverse rain' as water falls up into the atmosphere. However, it is unlikely that there would be anyone around to see this since the equator would have long since become uninhabitable. Mr Franczek says: 'If those few miserable humans would still be alive after most of Earth's water had been transferred to the atmosphere and beyond, they would clearly want to run out of the equator area as soon as possible.' Finally, once the planet started to reach speeds of about 24,000 miles per hour (38,600 kmph) at the equator, life as we know it would pretty much be over. The centrifugal forces would now be so strong that they would start to flatten out the Earth like a spinning ball of clay. The tectonic plates would shift and the Earth's crust would crack, leading to catastrophic results. Mr Franczek says: 'We would have enormous earthquakes. The tectonic plates would move quickly and that would be disastrous to life on the globe.'
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
The Simpsons predict the future after scientists plan artificial solar eclipse
'Have you ever seen the Sun set at 3pm?' This is what Mr Burns, the billionaire tyrant, asked the residents of Springfield in a 1996 episode of The Simpsons. And soon, a group of scientists can say they have. A UK-led space mission will see astronomers blot out the Sun by using a satellite, once again proving that The Simpsons can predict the future. The Moon-Enabled Sun Occultation Mission (MESOM), unveiled yesterday at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting, hopes that human-made solar eclipses will help us understand the Sun. A small satellite will be blasted into a special orbit that allows it to align with the Moon's shadow roughly once every lunar month, or 29.6 days. Solar eclipses don't sound like much – they happen when the Moon comes between us and the Sun. But the sight of the silhouette of the Moon eating into the yellow orb of the Sun is a celestial marvel. The Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun, but is 400 times closer to us – when the two align, they're about the same size in the sky. Sometimes only a small chunk of the Sun is obscured, leading to a partial solar eclipse. Earth can also elbow its way between the Sun and the Moon, which is called a lunar eclipse. Total solar eclipses aren't a common sight, occurring once every 18 months and can be as short as 10 seconds, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich. But MESOM aims to create 80 of them, each nearly 50 minutes long, across two years. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The artificial solar eclipse will recreate totality – the moment the Moon completely covers the Sun. During this, wispy white strings of light from the Sun's atmosphere, or corona, are visible. It's these wisps that are of interest to scientists, with eclipses being one of the few times the innermost corona is visible. But like children being told not to look at the Sun with the naked eye, scientists struggle to get a good look at the corona because of how bright the Sun is, Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer Jake Foster told Metro. 'We happen to be extremely lucky here on Earth that total solar eclipses occur, because in the brief few moments that the Moon completely blocks the Sun's surface from view, we can see and study its atmosphere, known as the corona,' he said. To get around this, MESOM will observe the technologically blocked-out Sun from space. The orbital spacecraft will get up, close and personal with our star – it'll be 56,000km close to the Sun. The satellite has a high-resolution coronal imager, a very powerful camera, and a corona mass spectrometer that can track the plasma that the Sun spits out. They'll also use a spectropolarimeter. While it sounds like something that can detect ghosts, the instrument can pick up sunspots, cool, dark spots of the Sun twisted by its magnetic field. By doing so, the international researchers will be able to forecast space weather better, such as solar storms, the Sun's energy smashing into the Earth, which can cause blackouts and power grid failures. More Trending Foster said: 'This could rapidly accelerate our chances to answer the big unsolved mysteries of the Sun, such as why its atmosphere (the corona) is so much hotter than its surface. 'Also, the chance to study and better understand space weather caused by the Sun is invaluable, since its effects on the Earth's electrical systems can be devastating if powerful enough.' The MESOM team submitted their proposal to the European Space Agency's F-class mission call in May. F-class missions are quick and easy projects – at least, in the world of multi-million pound world of space tech. If given the green light, they expect to start work on MESOM as early as 2026. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Earth is spinning so fast that today will be shorter – but is time going faster? MORE: Here's how to see the Delta Aquariid meteor shower just around the corner MORE: Uranus enters Gemini for the first time since 1949 — this is the epiphany it brings your star sign
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Exact date when the world's next shortest day will occur as Earth's rotation expected to speed up AGAIN
If it feels like the summer is slipping away faster than ever, you're not alone. On July 9, the world experienced one of the shortest days in recorded history, at 1.3 milliseconds shorter than the average day. Now, scientists have revealed exactly when the next shortest days will occur as Earth's rotation speeds up once again. Scientists predict that July 22 and August 5 will be even shorter than July 9, at 1.38 and 1.51 milliseconds shorter than average. This is because the moon will be at its furthest point from Earth, reducing how much the tides hold back the planet's rotation. Since an average blink lasts about 100 milliseconds, you won't be able to notice this difference. However, Earth's rotation has been unexpectedly speeding up over the last few years, with atomic clocks picking up the change in 2020 and 2022. While scientists have suggested multiple theories from changes in the atmosphere to the weakening magnetic field, the exact reason for the acceleration remains a mystery. Normally, the Earth takes 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds, to rotate fully on its axis in a 'solar day'. While this constant might be something we often take for granted, the Earth's rotation isn't actually stable. On average, the Earth is actually slowing down by about two milliseconds per century. This means that a T Rex in the Mesozoic era, about 250 million years ago, lived through days that were 23 hours long. Even as early as the Bronze Age, the average day was about 0.47 seconds shorter, and in 200 million years' time, the days will be 25 hours long. This slowing is largely due to the pull of the moon in a process called tidal braking. When the moon's gravity pulls on Earth, it causes the oceans to bulge out slightly. In addition to creating the tides, this tug actually pulls Earth backwards and slows its rotation. However, when the moon is at its furthest point from Earth, known as the apogee, this pull is weaker and the planet can spin faster than normal. That is why July 22 and August 5 will be so much faster than other days this year. But these exceptionally short days are only possible because the Earth is currently in an unusual phase of acceleration. This change has been so sudden that some experts think we will need to subtract a leap second for the first time ever in 2029. Prior to 2020, there had never been a day much more than a millisecond shorter than average according to the US Naval Observatory and international Earth rotation services. Now, scientists have recorded a string of days more than 1.3 milliseconds shorter than normal. The shortest day ever recorded occurred on July 5 last year, which was a full 1.66 milliseconds shorter. Dr Leonid Zotov, a leading authority on Earth rotation at Moscow State University, told Time and Date: 'Nobody expected this. The cause of this acceleration is not explained.' Overall, scientists expected the planet's rotation to slow. This is partly due to the slowing rotation of the inner core, which affects Earth's rotation in space Most scientists believe that this is due to something changing deep within Earth's core, which is affecting the planet's momentum. In the future, Dr Zotov and other scientists expect that the trend will return to gradual slowing. 'I think we have reached the minimum. Sooner or later, Earth will decelerate,' says Dr Zotov. This is because there are a number of factors which are jointly working to slow the planet down. In addition to tidal braking, scientists also found that the planet's inner core began to slow around 2010 and is now moving backwards, subtly affecting the Earth's rotation in space. This is expected to slightly slow the planet down over the coming years. Likewise, recent research shows that melting ice and moving groundwater, linked to climate change, have increased the length of our days by 1.33 milliseconds per century between 2000 and 2018.
