Orbital revolution facts for kids
Orbital revolution is when one space object moves around another. Think of it like a dance! For example, our Earth makes a big circle around the Sun. And the Moon dances around the Earth. This movement is called "revolving."
Planets and moons don't orbit in perfect circles. They move in paths shaped like stretched-out circles, called elliptical orbits. The time it takes for a planet to revolve around its star is called a year. For Earth, that's about 365 days. The Moon takes about a month to revolve around Earth.
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Revolving and Rotating: What's the Difference?
Astronomers use different words for these movements. When an object goes around another, it's "revolving." This is what creates a year. But objects also spin around themselves, like a top. This spinning is called "rotating." This is what creates a day.
How Long is a Year?
The time it takes for a planet to revolve around the Sun is its "year." For Earth, one year is 365 days. Every four years, we add an extra day (February 29th) to keep our Gregorian calendar accurate. This is called a leap year.
How Long is a Day?
The time it takes for a planet to rotate once on its own axis is its "day." Earth takes about 24 hours to rotate once.
Different Orbital Periods
The time it takes for an object to revolve around the Sun is different for every object. It depends on how close it is to the Sun and how fast it moves.
- The planet Mercury is closest to the Sun. It takes only about 88 Earth days to revolve around the Sun.
- Our Earth takes about 365 days.
- The dwarf planet Pluto is very far away. It takes over 248 Earth years to complete just one revolution around the Sun!
Images for kids
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An animation showing a low eccentricity orbit (near-circle, in red), and a high eccentricity orbit (ellipse, in purple)
See also
In Spanish: Órbita para niños
