July 9 To Be One Of Shortest Days In History; Here’s Why Earth Is Spinning Faster

Last Updated:July 09, 2025, 17:57 IST

The other two shortest days this year will be on July 22 and August 5.

The rotation of Earth around its axis is dependent on several factors, including the position of sun and moon (Pexels/Representative Image)

If July 9 feels shorter than usual, scientists have an explanation to explain the phenomenon. It is well known that the Earth revolves around the sun, resulting in a year, while its rotation on its own axis results in a day. Hence, one day on the Earth is same as the time it takes for its rotation, i.e., approximately 86,400 seconds or 24 hours. However, this rotation is depended on several factors, resulting in the change of speed. These factors include the position of sun and moon as well as change in the magnetic field of Earth.

This year, the Earth’s rotation around its axis will be faster than usual on three days, including July 9. The other two days are July 22 and August 5. According to a LiveScience report, this is due to the change in moon’s position with respect to Earth. When the moon is closer to Earth, it makes the gravitational pull stronger, resulting in a faster spin than usual, which takes 24 hours. In fact, previous research suggests that about 1 billion to 2 billion years ago, Earth had only 19-hour-long day.

However, as the moon started moving away from Earth, it impacted the gravitational pull and the Earth’s rotation slowed down with time, making the duration of the day longer on average than usual. Scientists have been recording the spinning duration of the Earth since 1970s. A few years, it was noted that the spinning speed has been quickly increasing, and the shortest day recorded till now was July 5, 2024. According to timeanddate.com, the day was 1.66 milliseconds short of the usual 24-hour duration.

Now, as the moon move towards the Earth’s poles and away from its equator, the spinning speed is expected to increase further. Keeping this in mind, it has been observed that July 9, July 22, and August 5 this year will be the shortest days recorded in history.

With only milliseconds worth of difference, the duration will not be observable to humans on the usual 24-hour clock. However, with modern equipment and machines, scientists are able to record this phenomenon for further study on Earth’s rotation.

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News viral July 9 To Be One Of Shortest Days In History; Here’s Why Earth Is Spinning Faster