Space factors in the development of Earth's nature

The Earth is a member of the Solar System, which lies in a rather quiet outer part of the Milky Way galaxy; this has favoured the development of life. The Sun has the strongest influence on the Earth: its radiation is the main source of energy for weather, ocean currents, the water cycle and living nature. The Moon, about 384 thousand km away, causes tides in the World Ocean and very slowly slows the Earth's rotation. The Earth's true shape is the geoid, a shape not fully like any simple geometric body; in calculations it is treated as a sphere or an ellipsoid. The spherical shape makes the angle of the Sun's rays change from the equator to the poles, giving latitudinal zonality. The Earth orbits the Sun in about 365 days 6 hours: seasons alternate and the length of day and night changes. Its rotation on its axis produces the day, the alternation of day and night, differences in local time and the Coriolis force (moving bodies deviate to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern).