2007-01-18 14:14:40 · 5 answers · asked by Orlando D 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Because it is by far the heaviest thing in the solar system. It is well over 500 times as heavy as all the planets put together.
2007-01-18 14:20:26 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, first you must know how the solar system is formed.
The sun was originally a cloud of nebular gas. Eventually, the particles attracted each other into a dense ball of gas by gravitational attraction. As the ball gathers more and more gas, it spins, and ejects material out, which orbits the ball of gas (now a protostar) at its equator like Saturn's rings.
Over time, these leftover material from the sun's birth collide with each other and become ever larger lumps of rocks and dust that eventually became planet-sized. The new planets continue to orbit the sun just as they did when they were still loose bits of ejected material because of gravitational attraction.
So, the summary is, when the sun forms, a disk of leftover material orbits around its equator. They eventually forms planets which still orbits the sun. It's the planets that are formed around the sun. That's why we have a heliocentric solar system, that is a solar system which has the sun at its center.
2007-01-18 16:51:49 · answer #2 · answered by Zeno 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sun has over 99% of the mass in the solar system. So, the center of gravity for our solar system is inside the sun.
2007-01-18 14:20:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It makes up 99.86% of the mass of our solar system, so planets orbit the sun..
2007-01-18 16:44:19 · answer #4 · answered by k_man_su 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The mass of the sun is so great that it can't move.
2007-01-18 15:14:03 · answer #5 · answered by w s 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋