As the Worlds Turn: Visualizing the Rotation of Planets

Misc

As the Worlds Turn: Visualizing the Rotation of Planets

As the Worlds Turn: Visualizing the Rotations of Planets

The rotation of planets have a dramatic effect on their potential habitability.

Dr. James O’Donoghue, a planetary scientist at the Japanese space agency who has the creative ability to visually communicate space concepts like the speed of light and the vastness of the solar system, recently animated a video showing cross sections of different planets spinning at their own pace on one giant globe.

Cosmic Moves: The Rotation of the Planets

Each planet in the solar system moves to its own rhythm. The giant gas planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) spin more rapidly on their axes than the inner planets. The sun itself rotates slowly, only once a month.

Planet	Rotation Periods (relative to stars)
Mercury	58d 16h
Venus	243d 26m
Earth	23h 56m
Mars	24h 36m
Jupiter	9h 55m
Saturn	10h 33m
Uranus	17h 14m
Neptune	16h

The planets all revolve around the sun in the same direction and in virtually the same plane. In addition, they all rotate in the same general direction, with the exceptions of Venus and Uranus.

In the following animation, their respective rotation speeds are compared directly:

The most visually striking result of planetary spin is on Jupiter, which has the fastest rotation in the solar system. Massive storms of frozen ammonia grains whip across the surface of the gas giant at speeds of 340 miles (550 km) per hour.

Interestingly, the patterns of each planet’s rotation can help in revealing whether they can support life or not.

Rotation and Habitability

As a fish in water is not aware it is wet, so it goes for humans and the atmosphere around us.

New research reveals that the rate at which a planet spins is an essential component for supporting life. Not only does rotation control the length of day and night, bit it influences atmospheric wind patterns and the formation of clouds.

The radiation the Earth receives from the Sun concentrates at the equator. The Sun heats the air in this region until it rises up through the atmosphere and moves towards the poles of the planet where it cools. This cool air falls through the atmosphere and flows back towards the equator.

This process is known as a Hadley cell, and atmospheres can have multiple cells:

A planet with a quick rotation forms Hadley cells at low latitudes into different bands that encircle the planet. Clouds become prominent at tropical regions, which reflect a proportion of the light back into space.

For a planet in a tighter orbit around its star, the radiation received from the star is much more extreme. This decreases the temperature difference between the equator and the poles, ultimately weakening Hadley cells. The result is fewer clouds in tropical regions available to protect the planet from intense heat, making the planet uninhabitable.

Slow Rotators: More Habitable

If a planet rotates slower, then the Hadley cells can expand to encircle the entire world. This is because the difference in temperature between the day and night side of the planet creates larger atmospheric circulation.

Slow rotation makes days and nights longer, such that half of the planet bathes in light from the sun for an extended period of time. Simultaneously, the night side of the planet is able to cool down.

This difference in temperature is large enough to cause the warm air from the day side to flow to the night side. This movement of air allows more clouds to form around a planet’s equator, protecting the surface from harmful space radiation, encouraging the possibility for the right conditions for life to form.

The Hunt for Habitable Planets

Measuring the rotation of planets is difficult with a telescope, so another good proxy would be to measure the level of heat emitted from a planet.

An infrared telescope can measure the heat emitted from a planet’s clouds that formed over its equator. An unusually low temperature at the hottest location on the planet could indicate that the planet is potentially a habitable slow rotator.

Of course, even if a planet’s rotation speed is just right, many other conditions come into play. The rotation of planets is just another piece in the puzzle in identifying the next Earth.

Technology

Ranking U.S. States with the Best Internet Value

Which U.S. state has the best internet value? Browse this interactive map to see where states rank on the Internet Value Index.

Ranking U.S. States with the Best Internet Value

Internet access has increased over the years, but both internet speed and affordability can vary considerably around the world, and even within the U.S. itself.

This interactive data visualization by Surfshark examines which states have the best internet value on average, and which have the worst. It uses data compiled for the company’s 2022 Internet Value Index.

Calculating Value

How do you measure the “best” internet value?

Surfshark’s Internet Value Index scores U.S. states on both broadband and mobile internet, measuring the ratio of speed to affordability, with each factor defined as follows:

• Internet Speed: The average download speeds between Q3 of 2021 and Q2 of 2022.
• Internet Affordability: The average monthly price of a standard internet or data package divided by the average hourly net wage in each state.

Each state’s index value is calculated by dividing speed by affordability for both broadband and mobile internet, then normalizing over the maximum value of 1.0.

Which States Have the Best Internet Value?

Surfshark’s study revealed large disparities between rural and urban states, highlighting the country’s digital divide. Here’s their full list of 50 U.S. states and internet index rankings in 2022.

State	Internet Value Rank	Broadband Value Rank	Mobile Value Rank	Region
New Jersey	1	1	2	Northeast
Massachusetts	2	2	3	Northeast
New York	3	4	1	Northeast
Rhode Island	4	7	4	Northeast
Washington	5	9	6	West
Maryland	6	12	7	South
Delaware	7	10	8	South
Connecticut	8	5	10	Northeast
Illinois	9	11	9	Midwest
California	10	8	11	West
Hawaii	11	3	22	West
Minnesota	12	26	5	Midwest
Pennsylvania	13	14	12	Northeast
Texas	14	6	27	South
Utah	15	20	13	West
Colorado	16	25	14	West
Ohio	17	17	16	Midwest
Arizona	18	18	17	West
Michigan	19	27	15	Midwest
North Carolina	20	13	29	South
Oregon	21	22	19	West
New Hampshire	22	15	31	Northeast
Indiana	23	24	24	Midwest
Georgia	24	19	28	South
South Carolina	25	16	33	South
Tennessee	26	21	30	South
North Dakota	27	29	21	Midwest
Nevada	28	33	20	West
Florida	29	30	25	South
Missouri	30	35	23	Midwest
Kansas	31	28	26	Midwest
Virginia	32	44	18	South
Wisconsin	33	34	34	Midwest
Kentucky	34	31	36	South
Nebraska	35	23	47	Midwest
South Dakota	36	40	32	Midwest
Alabama	37	32	41	South
Maine	38	36	39	Northeast
Oklahoma	39	38	42	South
Louisiana	40	37	45	South
Idaho	41	42	37	West
Iowa	42	41	44	Midwest
Alaska	43	48	35	West
New Mexico	44	45	38	West
Vermont	45	43	43	Northeast
West Virginia	46	39	49	South
Montana	47	50	40	West
Arkansas	48	47	48	South
Wyoming	49	49	46	West
Mississippi	50	46	50	South

New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York deliver the best value for internet services. Workers in all three states received fixed broadband speeds above 37 Mbps per hour of work at the average net state wage, and mobile speeds of 5 Mbps or more.

On the other end of the index, Mississippi, Wyoming, and Arkansas had some of the worst value services. Using the same ratio, workers got download speeds of 16 Mbps and below per hour of work for broadband, and mobile speeds of 2 Mbps or lower.

Regional disparity is quite clear, with five of the top 10 states being located in the Northeast. Eight of the bottom 10 states, meanwhile, were in the West and South.

Interestingly, the Midwest was the second best region for internet value, but still ranked below the country’s average score. This further highlights the disproportionate value earned by higher-income and heavily-populated states over others.

Internet For All?

Internet affordability (or lack thereof) can have economic consequences, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An IMF study details how high-speed internet has become critical for socioeconomic inclusion for work, education, and access to services.

As more workplaces and schools expect tasks to get done in a remote environment, it’s expected that affordable, high-quality internet will become even more critical going forward.

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