Re: Yes, I'm back

James Landau wrote:
>
>In a message dated 1/21/2003 9:18:19 AM Pacific Standard Time,
>and_yo@HOTMAIL.COM writes:
>
>
> > The rotational periods of Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
>Neptune
> > are all in the 9-25h range. The much longer rotational periods of Mecury
> > and
> > Venus are likely due to tidal slowing caused by their proximity to the
>Sun.
> > This has caused at least some astronomers to conclude that this order of
> > magnitude is "natural" for the rotational period of a terrestrial or
>jovian
> > planet.
>
>  Jovian? I've heard of terrestrial type and gas giant planets, but the
>site
>doesn't let you create a jovian type. I've never heard of them. Is that a
>type of planet of extreme size (in the sense of mass), enough to flatten
>anything that lands on the surface, but still made of solid material
>instead
>of being a giant of gas?
Jovian planet = gas giant. And I was using "terrestrial" in a broad sense,
according to which Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars and, arguably, the Moon
are terrestrial planets (the moon being irrelevant for the subject of
rotational periods because of its locked orbit).


         Andreas


  Andreas

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