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ILLUSTRATES: Raphael Mortari
Because that’s how the great cloud of dust and gases that gave rise to the Solar System 5 billion years ago rotated. Our planetary system was formed by the condensation of a cloud of gas and particles that rotated from west to east. As in a blender, these particles collided with each other and began to come together, growing to the point of becoming clusters called planets. Like the Earth, most of the “newborns” followed the flow of movement, maintaining the same west-east swirl of the mother cloud. Venus and Uranus, however, did not have such a peaceful childhood and were forced to change course. “Astronomers are still not unanimous about why these two planets rotate from east to west, but everything indicates that it is due to a past of turbulence and collisions, which definitely altered their rotation”, says geographer Sirius Souza, from Unicamp.
TDF SUGGESTED Gabriel Fagundes
CONSULTANCY Sirius Souza, geographer doing a doctorate in geography at the State University of Campinas
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– Why do the planets rotate?
– How is the sky on other planets?
– What is the origin of the names of the planets in the Solar System?