SSS 2008-01-01 This is ScientificAmericans' 60-Second Science. I am Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Happy New Year! And don’tfeel bad about taking today off. After all, you’ve traveled far. And I’m nottalking about the trip home from the party last night. According to NASA, justby being on the planet earth in the last year, you’ve zipped about 584 millionmiles around the sun to get back where you were. At an average speed of about67,000 miles per hour. Again, not talking about the drive home last night. Of course, the trip wasnot a perfect circle. As Kepler showed, the earth’s orbit is an ellipse, withthe sun at one of the two focal points. He also figured out the planet goesfaster when it’s at perihelion, nearer the sun, than when it’s at aphelion, itsfurthest distance. Which would explain why summer seems to zip by, except theseasons are a function of the tilt of the earth’s axis, not its differentdistances from the sun. And the earth rotated 365 and a quarter times duringits sweep around the sun. The trip took 8,766 hours. Or 31,557,600 seconds. Or525,960 minutes just like this one. Thanks for the minute forScientific Americans' 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.