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Direction of the Solar System

p9012

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mark7331

mark7331

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Hi Mark,

As I'm sure you know our Solar system is part of a larger structure called the Milky Way - our home galaxy. The planets in our Solar system orbit the Sun and our Solar system orbits the galactic core from our position on one of the spiral arms in much the same way. The stars you can see in the night sky belong, in one way or another, to our galaxy and thus have their own place in the grand scheme.

So this means that we aren't moving towards or away from any of the stars you can see.

But if you change the question a bit there is an object that we're moving towards. It's another galaxy and you can see it without a telescope or Binoculars. It's the Andromeda Galaxy(aka M31) in the constellation of Andromeda. It's huge and appears as a smudge in the night sky.

Download a copy of Stellarium (EDIT: heres the link: http://www.stellarium.org/ ) and you can work out it's position as well as many night time objects.

I hope this helps.

Mark

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Thomas

Thomas

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The Sun, and therefore the entire solar system, is heading in the direction of a point on the border of Lyra and Hercules, at approximately RA 18Hrs 30 mins and Dec. 30 degrees north. This position, known as the solar apex, is about 10 degrees SSW of Vega, just east of the 4th magnitude star Omicron Herculis. The velocity is about 16km/s. This motion is independent of the galactic orbital motion.

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Steve922

Steve922

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Good point. But both these galaxies are probably on a collision course for a more distant one (or group) at a higher speed than that.

The answer seems to have just become much more complicated! :-)

We might be better off if we accept we are the centre of the universe and everything is headed towards or away from us! :-)

Steve

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mark7331

mark7331

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Good point. But both these galaxies are probably on a collision course for a more distant one (or group) at a higher speed than that.

The answer seems to have just become much more complicated! :-)

We might be better off if we accept we are the centre of the universe and everything is headed towards or away from us! :-)

Steve

:) I concur.

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Thomas

Thomas

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Steve makes a good point. On the intergalactic scale, our galaxy and M31 are not actually heading directly towards each other, rather, they are heading, on converging courses, in the direction of Leo. As far as the sun's galactic motion is concerned, it's orbit is taking it, very approximately, towards the Carina/Vela/Crux direction, at about 220 km/s. This orbit is elliptical and has a North/South oscillation, so I will not attempt to be too precise. However, with regard to the initial question, and bearing in mind the distances involved, my original response is accurate.

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p9012

p9012

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Thanks Guys...

I got two helpful answers, the direction and speed of the Solar

System and the direction and speed of the MilkyWay...love this stuff. I have had Stellarium downloaded for some time now and

recently installed daggerstab's experimental comet and asteroid

plug-in. 103p/Hartley popped in easy enough and have been tracking it for the last couple days. The 'fuzzy green ball' was disappointing with binoculars. Ready for another bright comet like

Hale-Bopp...now that was a comet!

Mark K.

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Adrian

Adrian

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It was a fantastic sight. Wished I'd been into astronomy more then. :)

Certainly was - I was at Uni. I'd been directed to the wrong part of the sky for a couple of nights by a numpty so hadn't found it (somehow!). Went to a party and 'walking' home fell sideways into a bush and lying there it was right above me in all its glory. Stayed there for a while to look as it was quite comfortable :)

As to the direction of the solar system, it seems we're going nowhere, fast :(

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p9012

p9012

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I lived in a small cabin out on a lake for 10 years, (oil lamps and

candles gents)...

My bed in that little cabin was lined up with Hale-Bopp. I would lay

there for hours in awe of that glowing orb. Some of my best viewing

was from that bed...

Mark K.

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mark7331

mark7331

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Went to a party and 'walking' home fell sideways into a bush and lying there it was right above me in all its glory. Stayed there for a while to look as it was quite comfortable :)

Now that's how everyone should be introduced to astronomy :(

I lived in a small cabin out on a lake for 10 years, (oil lamps and

candles gents)...

My bed in that little cabin was lined up with Hale-Bopp. I would lay

there for hours in awe of that glowing orb. Some of my best viewing

was from that bed...

Awesome. This is the stuff of astronomy - the events and memories that bring us back to the eyepiece again and again. I have a big smile now - just like when I saw Jupiter for the first time.

Thanks for sharing that. :)

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Good point. But both these galaxies are probably on a collision course for a more distant one (or group) at a higher speed than that.

The answer seems to have just become much more complicated! :-)

We might be better off if we accept we are the centre of the universe and everything is headed towards or away from us! :-)

Steve

My understanding is that EVERYTHING in the universe is expanding outwards (in all directions) from the initial point of the Big Bang. I'm thinking that the further away from the initial point of the Big Bang object get that they possibly slow down and that at some time in the future the objects furthest away will slow their rate of expanding which means that objects coming up behind them will one day eventually collide.

Call it a "cosmic pile up". So taking this into consideration..............our Milky Way is on a collision course with Andromeda.

Because both the MW and the Andromeda galaxy are so close together................yes both galaxies will one day collide and merge into one galaxy.......................the Milky-Andromeda galaxy will continue on it journey outwards until such a time that it collides with the next object out there in front of it.

I reckon that one day the rate of expansion of objects in the universe will slow to such a snails pace (the further away from the Big Bang the objects get) that at some stage there will be one hell of a cosmic pile up which will put an end to the universe as we know it.

Just my theory. Yes the universe could continue to expand outwards at the same rate for the whole of eternity. But i think the further out it expands that is slows down and at some stage there has to be a MASSIVE COSMIC pile up.

On the other hand it could be like stretching an elastic band. It will expand as far as it can and then start to contract once again towards the initial point of the Big Bang. Then the whole process will start all over again.

I think this is called the Cosmic Crunch Theory?

Sounds plausible to me.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Paul, not everything is expanding. Gravitationally bound systems like the galaxy in which we live are not subject to the expansion. Nor, in the big bang, is there a point from which the expansion began. The expansion was/is unviversal. While you may be right about the big crunch the current flavour of the month is that the expansion is accelerating. This may change!!

The spiral structure of the Milky Way was confirmed by radio astronomers who measured our movement relative to sources emitting radio waves in the 21cm band. It turned out that there were several such sources in most directions within the plane of the Milky Way. They could be distinguished by the speed of their relative movement. The explanation was that each was in a different spiral arm, each arm moving relative to us at a slightly different rate. Jodrell Bank's introductory course has a superb module on this. The point is that your question is a good one and checks on our relative motion have lots to tell us.

Olly

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Steve922

Steve922

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I reckon that one day the rate of expansion of objects in the universe will slow to such a snails pace (the further away from the Big Bang the objects get) that at some stage there will be one hell of a cosmic pile up which will put an end to the universe as we know it.

Would that be when all the matter reaches the inside skin of the balloon? :-) Why do you think the rate of expasion will slow down?

Steve

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Ian_A

Ian_A

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Download a copy of Stellarium (EDIT: heres the link: Stellarium ) and you can work out it's position as well as many night time objects.

Just read through and and found this from you mark......and thank you..very useful !

cheers

Ian

L plates still on my telescope

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Remember that your standing on a planet thats evolving

And revolving at 900 miles per hour

Its orbiting at 90 miles a second - so its reckoned

A sun that is the source of all our power

The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see -

Are moving at a million miles a day

In an out sprial arm at 40,000 miles an hour

In a Galaxy we call the Milky Way.

The Universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whizz

As fast as it can go - the speed of light you know

12 million miles a minute - and thats the fastest speed there is

You'll recognise it from Monty Pythons 'The Meaning of Life' and its what I use as a kind of mnemomic cos its quite accurate.

Amazing though that we are at all times whizzing about in a dozen different directions and never sense it - which is just as well really :)

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