Earth’s wobble shortens Spring by 30 seconds each year

Spring may have sprung but it is 30 seconds shorter every year because of the way the Earth wobbles, according to a new report.

The Earth wobble shortens spring by 30 seconds a year Image by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / CC BY 2.0

The astronomical spring began last Friday with an eclipse and a Supermoon. That was the vernal equinox, says a report by LiveScience when the Earth’s axis doesn’t point towards the sun or away from it.

However, the London Independent reports that spring has been gradually getting shorter for thousands of years. It is caused by the slow wobbling of the Earth’s surface known as a precession, which means that the planet moves as a spinning top due to the gravity of the moon and the sun.

As a result of that process, there is a slight earlier movement every year. It is compounded by the movement around the sun’s elliptical orbit which also mean the distance is changing ever so slightly. While no one feels the movements, it changes the speed at which the Earth moves.