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To change the way you see the Moon, view it from the Sun’s perspective
That the Moon orbits Earth is one of the first and most basic facts most people learn about physics and astronomy. And it’s certainly intuitive enough: Earth’s only natural satellite moves across our sky each night. But, as this short from the YouTube series MinutePhysics details, if you use the Sun as your frame of reference, the truth becomes much more complicated. Explained via a series of nifty whiteboard-style animations, the video uses the Moon’s trajectory through the cosmos to explore broader, perhaps counterintuitive truths about orbital mechanics.
Video by MinutePhysics
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Physics
Groundbreaking visualisations show how the world of the nucleus gives rise to our own
10 minutes
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Earth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
8 minutes
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Ecology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
6 minutes
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Space exploration
The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space
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Neuroscience
This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience
2 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
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Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes
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Evolution
How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution
60 minutes