Chile earthquake ‘affected’ Earth’s axis

Chile’s earthquake may have affected Earth’s axis and caused shorter days, NASA scientists said.

The effect on time is not noticeable at just 1.26 microseconds shorter, but this change is permanent.

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake shifted large amounts of rock and altered Earth’s distribution of mass.

The change in Earth’s distribution of mass affected the rotation of our planet.  The length of a day is determine by the planet’s rotation rate.

“Any worldly event that involves the movement of mass affects the Earth’s rotation,” NASA’s Benjamin Fong Chao said.

[via edition.cnn.com, image: guardian.co.uk]