GPS satellites run on atomic clocks that tick faster than identical clocks on the ground. Weak gravity in orbit speeds them up, while their orbital speed slows them down, leaving a net gain of roughly 38 microseconds every day. Without compensating for Einstein's theories of relativity, navigation apps would drift by about 10 kilometres every 24 hours. More
Venus rotates so slowly that one full spin takes 243 Earth days, which is indeed longer than its 225-day trip around the Sun. But because Venus spins backwards, the actual cycle from sunrise to sunrise takes just 117 Earth days. One Venusian year contains almost two entire solar days. More
Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt around 30 BCE, roughly 2,500 years after workers finished the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2560 BCE. The Apollo 11 crew touched down on the lunar surface in 1969 CE, approximately 2,000 years after her death. She was centuries closer to watching live television broadcasts of astronauts than to watching her own famous monument go up. More
Submit a TILF