Earth’s orbit around the Sun isn’t a perfect circle—it’s slightly elliptical. Each year, around July 2 or 3, Earth reaches its farthest point from the Sun, known as aphelion. Around January 2 or 3, ...

Planet Earth is spinning a little faster today — resulting in one of the shortest days of the year. But the change will be so minuscule you won’t even notice. We’re talking even less time than the ...

Earth has a number of mini-moons and quasi-moons. Mini-moons are objects that orbit our planet. But they make for fickle fans: They tend to swing around Earth for only a matter of months. One example ...

Earth is spinning faster this summer, making the days marginally shorter and attracting the attention of scientists and timekeepers. July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, lasting 1.36 ...

The planet’s rotation fluctuates as it travels around the sun, and measurements suggest we’re losing more than a millisecond during the long days of summer. By Jacey Fortin This article was updated ...

Earth takes 24 hours to complete a full rotation in a standard day, equal to exactly 86,400 seconds. July 9 was the first of three days in which a millisecond or more could be shaved off the clock on ...

Though we sum up a day as 24 hours and a year as 365 days, Earth's rotational and orbital speeds aren't exactly consistent. Instead, both fluctuate, swayed by atmospheric drag, tidal forces, changes ...

A strange shift in Earth's rotation is making our days milliseconds shorter — and scientists are racing to understand why. The days are getting shorter and not just because summer is waning in the ...