Galactic Coordinates of Earth on 01/01/2214

[Eliza2Jane]

I realize this may be a strange request but I'm hoping some-one can point me in the right direction.

I'm currently studying a Masters of Fine Art Photography in CT, and have been making landscapes
of earth that are void of life. These landscapes are set 200 years in the future, which could be the
fictional time when humans have stripped the earth of all its natural resources.

In order to date this project - I am making a book - I want to give the galactic coordinates of earth in 200 years on the front cover.

From what I understand you can only get the precise coordinates of earth by using the day / date you are referring to, as earth is constantly moving.

I can't for the life of me find out what the precise galactic coordinates would be on Jan 1st 2214....

Is there anyone (out there) that could?

I appreciate any help in this matter - my book goes to press on Wed.

Kind regards,

Eliza2Jane

[Paul M]

Earth's position isn't really referenced to any "galactic coordinates". Although the sky can be marked with a galactic longitude and latitude it's more a system for locating and referencing celestial objects. It's a Sun-centric system that doesn't lend itself to describing the Solar Systems motion round the galaxy on a scale of hundreds of years.

The nearest thing I can think of that sounds scientific and does have its uses is the Julian Date : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_day

Is that what you have in mind?

[Laurie61]

Its probably not what you need but Stellarium  gives Earth's Galactic Long/ Lat as 42dg 39 min 32.4 sec / - 43dg 08 min  19.2 sec on 01/01/2214. 

[joseyt17]

Laurie61, I'm trying to find the galactic coordinates of Earth for a certain date as well, how did you find them in Stellarium? I'm looking for the coordinates on Jun 1st 2016

[acey]

As Paul M said two years ago, galactic co-ordinates are a way of defining positions on the celestial sphere (the sky) with respect to the Milky Way. The centre is the Earth itself, or more strictly the Sun (which is so near us in galactic terms that it makes no practical difference). The galactic co-ordinates of Earth would be telling you where the Earth would be in your sky, with respect to the plane of the Milky Way, if you were looking at it from the Sun. Why anyone should want to know that, and why Stellarium bothers to calculate it, I have no idea.

If you want to know where abouts in the galaxy Earth lies (with respect e.g. to the main spiral arms) the answer is almost exactly the same place it's been in for the last few thousand years. Our solar system lies in the Orion Arm and orbits the galactic centre with a period of about 230 million years.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

The reason we don't have a galactic coordinate system in the way that you're thinking is that while we can measure an object's position in the sky very accurately, distances estimates often have large error bars. For example, the star Betelguese is listed at a distance of 643 light years, plus or minus 146. Giving it an x y z style coordinate relative to the galactic centre would be misleading, we just can't measure things that precisely.

The solar system moves at a speeds of about 220km/s, so in 200 years it will travel about 23 billion kilometers. That sounds a lot but it's only a couple thousandths of a light year, a tiny fraction of the distance to the nearest star.

[goodricke1]

15 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

The solar system moves at a speeds of about 220km/s, so in 200 years it will travel about 23 billion kilometers. That sounds a lot but it's only a couple thousandths of a light year, a tiny fraction of the distance to the nearest star.

Actually that's about 1.3 trillion kms, but still only 3% of the distance to the nearest star.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

40 minutes ago, goodricke1 said:

Actually that's about 1.3 trillion kms, but still only 3% of the distance to the nearest star.

You're right, looks like I missed a multiplication somewhere. interstellar travel is difficult enough anyway, but it becomes even harder if you forget there are 60 minutes in an hour.