Earth and solar system's movement

[TheBug]

Hi there..

So I spent the day getting my head around RA and Dec, how the earth moves around the sun and the celestial vs ecliptic plane. I found a few nice animations that made it easier to understand and of course made plenty of drawings along the way. Then I started wondering about the solar system and how it moves in the milky way and why the milky way moves across our night sky the way it does (not horizontally in a circle but in a loop).

I've tried googling but haven't found nice animations or pictures that explain the movement of earth around the sun, and the sun/solar system in the milky way. Could someone explain this in a very basic manner or perhaps have a link of a site that explains it nicely?

Also, I came across a post that had a link to a video showing the planets moving in a helical/corkscrew manner around the sun which is travelling "forward" around the milky way.. The guy who posted the link mentiones that it isn't an accurate depiction of how the solar system functions. How does the solar system them move across the milky way? Do the planets only rotate around the sun (centrifugal force if you will), or do they also move "forward" (individually) in addition to their rotation around the sun? Or does the solar system as a whole move "forward"?

* by forward I mean the path our solar system follows around the milky way

Thanks so much!!

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Hi, this article may be of help. Many of the animations depicting the motion of the solar system are misleading, here's a reasonably good one (although it does not show the Milky Way).

[symesie04]

interesting animation. However looking at the background stars (which i assume represent stars of the milky way) i cant tell if the camera is rotating round the Sun for 360 degree angle of this is supposed to represent the plane of rotation of the Sun. If the latter then the Suns plane of rotation is cleary offset from that of the planets which would confuse the comments in the thread regarding planetary disk formation?

[Owmuchonomy]

Yes I give myself brain ache with this. Once I grasped that the plane of our Solar System is inclined at 60 degrees to the plane of our galaxy then it became a bit easier. I actually got the furthest by studying the diagram of Herschels top 400 since this had the 'wave' of the galaxy plane overlayed on top. I could then estimate where the Milky Way should be at times of the year in my night sky quite accurately.

[EDEE]

New science by Jim Ryan

Every galaxy must act as one, from the center to the very outside edges. Every solar system must travel at the same rate of speed. If every solar system did not revolve at the same rate of speed, we would not see the same night sky throughout the year.

Science is wrong when it claims that gravity is due to mass.

[EDEE]

In the above post I should have said, science is wrong what it claims that gravity is due to mass "alone". Mass is part of the equation.

[symesie04]

New science by Jim Ryan

Every galaxy must act as one, from the center to the very outside edges. Every solar system must travel at the same rate of speed. If every solar system did not revolve at the same rate of speed, we would not see the same night sky throughout the year.

Science is wrong when it claims that gravity is due to mass.

Not sure if i am misunderstanding your post but all solar systems dont rotate around the galaxy at the same speed. The individual components of our galaxy move at a huge array of different speeds. They dont even all travel in the same motion, they can drift across others paths. M45 is a example of this where not all the stars in the group are of the same family but several just happen to be drifting across their path from our view. The only reason our view seems to be the same night after night is the immense distance of these objects which means it takes a very long time for anything to travel far enough to change of view. Get a copy of stellarium and wind forward or back a few thousand years and you will see the night sky certainly doesnt appear the same.

[acey]

Then I started wondering about the solar system and how it moves in the milky way and why the milky way moves across our night sky the way it does (not horizontally in a circle but in a loop).

I've tried googling but haven't found nice animations or pictures that explain the movement of earth around the sun, and the sun/solar system in the milky way. Could someone explain this in a very basic manner or perhaps have a link of a site that explains it nicely?

 How does the solar system them move across the milky way? Do the planets only rotate around the sun (centrifugal force if you will), or do they also move "forward" (individually) in addition to their rotation around the sun? Or does the solar system as a whole move "forward"?

Planets rotate on their own axes, and orbit the Sun. The Solar System as a whole orbits the centre of mass of the Milky Way. The Milky Way orbits the centre of mass of the Local Group of galaxies, which orbits the centre of mass of the Local Supercluster. Those galactic motions are obviously over incredibly long timescales, and not something we see directly.

The stars and Milky Way move across our sky, but that's just because of Earth's rotation. If Earth weren't spinning we would see the stars and Milky Way stationary in the sky. Earth's orbit around the Sun would make no noticeable difference to their position in the sky because they're so far away.

@EDEE/Jim Ryan: I enjoy your pseudo-scientific proclamations (like your claim in another thread about the "speed of sight"). But I for one won't be rising to the bait.

[Pluto the Snowman]

Planets rotate on their own axes, and orbit the Sun. The Solar System as a whole orbits the centre of mass of the Milky Way. The Milky Way orbits the centre of mass of the Local Group of galaxies, which orbits the centre of mass of the Local Supercluster. Those galactic motions are obviously over incredibly long timescales, and not something we see directly.

The stars and Milky Way move across our sky, but that's just because of Earth's rotation. If Earth weren't spinning we would see the stars and Milky Way stationary in the sky. Earth's orbit around the Sun would make no noticeable difference to their position in the sky because they're so far away.

@EDEE/Jim Ryan: I enjoy your pseudo-scientific proclamations (like your claim in another thread about the "speed of sight"). But I for one won't be rising to the bait.

Yeah but the day/night cycle would last about 365 times longer. The sun would appear to move throughout the year and would end up between the apparently stationary stars and the Earth for much of the year so you wouldnt see any stars for a while. It would be interesting to see how it would disrupt the Coriolis effect and hopefully get more clear skies during the long night time. You would also miss out stars that would normally only be visible at certain times of the year.