Why some planets orbit backwards?

Experts from Northwestern University in Illinois, USA, conduct a study that was published in the scientific journal Nature, and which required to find the reasons for this phenomenon that breaks with the standard theory of planet configuration. According to this theory, a planet must rotate in the same direction as their star, just like in our solar system. "It's very strange, and it is even rarer because the planet is very close to the star," said Frederic Rasio, an astrophysicist at Northwestern University.

Earth in the third dimension

The German satellite TanDEM-X was launch into orbit on a mission to map more accurate to be made available to the surface of the Earth. The satellite will fly radar technology with identical platform called TerraSAR-X launched in 2007. Both measured variations in the height of the globe with an accuracy of better than two meters.

Its digital elevation model will have many uses, from helping military jets fly ultra low height to show where rescue workers was worse the damage caused by an earthquake.

Significance makes Earth look like a potato

A satellite is record variations in Earth's significance gives us a different view of our planet from space looks like a potato. And yet, the information provided by this model is the sharpest view we have of how gravity varies across the Earth. The device was released by the team working on the European satellite GOCE.