Does our solar system (Galaxy) move through the universe like a cloud moves through the sky or are we completely stationary?
2007-03-06 08:52:34 · 9 answers · asked by starman45 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The galaxy is not the same thing as the solar system! Our solar system is 8 planets, plus numerous dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids orbiting the Sun. The Sun in turn is just one of many billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The Sun orbits the center of the galaxy and the galaxy is moving in space toward the Andromeda galaxy. Nothing is stationary.
2007-03-06 08:55:33 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Dear Sir:
In order to answer your question, we need to establish some definitions clearly in everyone's mind...
Our Solar System consists of the Sun (our star), the 8 (or 9) planets which orbit around it, and the various moons which orbit around those planets. Some planets, as you are probably aware, have no moons, while others have multiple moons. The Earth has one.
The Sun and its associated orbiting objects is located on a branch of a whirling disk of stars which is called the Milky Way Galaxy. The disk has several branches and a bright central core that is so densly packed with stars that it appears to bulge in that area. This whirling disk of stars is moving outward from some point in space toward a distant galaxy named Andromeda.
Andromeda is a massive conglomeration of stars of its own, and is one of 100,000 or more other galaxies out there beyond the Milky Way. Estimates have been made as to a possible collision date with Andromeda and most figures seem to fall around the 4,000,000 million year time frame. So we have lots of time to solve the world's problems before everything goes up in one big puff of smoke and fire.
Nothing in space is completely stationary. Everything is moving. The interesting thing is that some things are moving together, some are moving in exactly opposite directions, and others appear to not be linked at all by their movement. This can be a bit mind boggling when you attempt to correlate movement and work forwards to a future event, or backwards to some original cause. The numbers for distances and elapsed time just boggle the mind, and past points in space seem nebulous to the casual observer.
2007-03-06 17:17:53 · answer #2 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gosh, some answers are so long-winded.
Even within the rotation of the galaxy, where we revolve along with billions of other stars, the Sun and its family oscillate up and down through one of the spiral arms of the galaxy.
From memory, this oscillation takes about 30 million years, and some astronomers (look up Clube and Napier) believe this accounts for a seeming periodicy in violent impacts that have caused extinctions throughout the Earth's history.
The reason: there are varying densities of matter in the sun's path through the spiral arm and when it moves into a denser region, the gravity of the dense matter upsets the equilibrium of the trillions of comets that orbit the sun way out in the Oort Cloud (look that one up as well). Some of these comets are then shunted into the inner Solar System where they go into short-period orbits and cause mayhem amongst the planets for thousands of years.
Jusr theory at the moment, but they do know that the sun does do this carousell ride within the spiral arm of the galaxy.
2007-03-06 17:37:58 · answer #3 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We move around our Sun and our Sun moves around our Galaxy and our Galaxy moves through the Universe. Nothing is stationary and if it were how would you measure it?
2007-03-06 16:57:01 · answer #4 · answered by rscanner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We move. In about a few million years a galaxy named Andromeda will collide with us at 400 times the speed of a bullet. Relax, we'll all be dead by then.
2007-03-06 17:00:12 · answer #5 · answered by comicfreak33 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
suposedly there are more than one galaxy in the universe. if galaxies dont move, then new galaxies would never be formed and we might not be here. Our galaxy does move and in a few thousand years, our galaxy might be part of a new one in the distant future.
2007-03-06 17:46:27 · answer #6 · answered by purplekitty121794 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The universe is expanding at an incredible rate of speed, and our galaxy is part of that expansion.
2007-03-06 16:59:59 · answer #7 · answered by Jerry P 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Heraclitus of Ephesus answered this question centuries ago. He said: 'everything flows, nothing stands still'. This saying applies for Galaxies too.
2007-03-06 17:45:55 · answer #8 · answered by stardom65 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Click on the link below, this should give you better of where our sun is in relation to the rest of the stars in our galaxy.
It's a photograph.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/agronauts/images/milky_way.jpg
2007-03-07 02:15:25 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋