Science quiz
Planets by how fast they spin
Eight planets, from the quickest spinner to the slowest. The time is one full turn against the stars.
- Format
- Put them in order
- Items
- 8 to sort
- Limit
- None
- Level
- Hard
- Checked
- 2026.10.03
See every entry and put the whole list in order.
- Entries
- 8
- Sort by
- One rotation
- Time limit
- None
- Touch screens start in Tap mode: tap the entries in order, and tap one again to take it back.
- Drag mode: drag an entry (press and hold on a phone), or use the arrow buttons.
- Keyboard: space to pick up, arrows to move, space to drop.
- Pause whenever you like (Esc). The board hides while the clock is stopped.
About this quiz
A sidereal rotation is one full turn measured against the stars. The four giants all spin in well under a day; the two planets nearest the Sun barely turn at all.
- Venus and Uranus spin backwards compared with the other planets.
- A rotation of Venus takes longer than its year of about 225 days.
- Earth's rotation against the stars takes 23.9 hours, about four minutes less than a day by the Sun.
Sources
- [1]NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Planetary Physical Parameters.
Note on the data. Times are the table's sidereal rotation periods; a negative period there means retrograde rotation and is shown here as backwards. Radii, masses, densities, rotation and orbital periods, gravity and escape velocities are the figures in the JPL Solar System Dynamics tables of planetary physical parameters, read on 3 October 2026. The five dwarf planets are the five in that table, which are the five the International Astronomical Union recognises.
Last checked October 3, 2026
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