Scientists: Sunlight alters asteroids' spin

[I Have A Dream]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Sunlight can cause asteroids to spin more quickly, scientists said Wednesday, showing anew just how dynamic a place our solar system can be.

International teams of scientists studying two asteroids, one about a mile wide and the other about 375 feet wide, confirmed a previously unproven theory that sunlight can affect the rotation of asteroids because they tend to be irregularly shaped and not perfectly round.

Stephen Lowry of Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland said the findings boost the understanding of the physical properties and dynamics of asteroids -- hunks of metal and rock rattling around in space.

"This is important as asteroids are leftovers from the formation of the solar system, along with comets, and so by studying them we gain insights into what the solar system was like some 4.5 billion years ago," Lowry said by e-mail

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/03/08/sunlight.asteroids.reut/index.html

[Rock_Garden]

1. Gee, I'm irregularly shaped and not perfectly round, too.

I suspect the sun's also affecting my rate of spin.

:silly:

[I Have A Dream]

2. My point exactly!

:yourock:, Rock_Garden!

[Rock_Garden]

3. Yeah, Mercury's direct, all right.

I actually knew that's what you meant, and I was actually able to say it in plain English. Thank goodness.

So, if the sun is an excellent source of, is it vitamins A and D, then is sunlight also necessary for us to keep the proper spin? It's probably that we need just enough exposure to sunlight (not too much or too little). I've read that we need 20 minutes a day of direct sunlight. Anybody else heard that?