How the Sun orbits the Milky Way

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

At all times, the question of how our Galaxy works has been one of the most pressing. We all know that our solar system consists of eight planets that move in orbit around the sun. But in this article, you can also learn how the Sun itself moves. First, let's look at the principle of planetary motion.

Why do planets move around the Sun?

Saying that the planets revolve around the sun is just another way of saying that they are in orbit around the sun. Moving around the Sun in an orbit, the planet is like the Moon or a NASA satellite orbiting the Earth. Let's think about why the planet revolves around the sun, and not the sun around the planet. A light object revolves around a heavier one, so any planet is a celestial body moving around the Sun, since this star is by far the heaviest object in our solar system. The sun is 1000 times heavier than the largest planet Jupiter, more than 300,000 times heavier than the Earth. By the same principle, the Moon and satellites move around the Earth.

Isaac Newton

But even now we still have the question of why something revolves around something else. The reasons are complex, but the first reasonable explanation came from one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. It was Isaac Newton who lived in England about 300 years ago. Newton gained fame during his lifetime; many admired his answers to the most difficult and fascinating scientific questions of the day.

Newton realized that the reason the planets revolve around the sun has to do with why objects fall to Earth when we drop them. The Sun's gravity pulls on the planets just as the Earth's gravity pulls off anything that isn't held by any other force and keeps you and me on the ground. Heavy objects attract more strongly than light objects, so being the heaviest in our solar system, the Sun exerts the strongest gravitational pull.

The principle of the constant movement of the planets

Now the next question is: if the Sun pulls on the planets, why don't they just fall down and burn up? In addition to falling towards the Sun, the planets also move sideways. It's the same as if you had a weight at the end of a string. If you turn it, you are constantly pulling it towards your hand. So the gravity of the Sun pulls the planet, but the movement to the side keeps the ball rotating around. Without this lateral movement, it would fall towards the center; and without the pull to the center it would fly in a straight line, which of course is exactly what happens if you let go of the string.

How she movesSun?

Our Galaxy revolves around its center, which is called the Milky Way. According to scientists, the speed of the Sun in its orbit is about 828,000 km / h. But even with such a high speed, one pass around the Milky Way will be 228 million years!

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. Scientists believe that it consists of 4 sleeves. The Sun (and, of course, the rest of our solar system) is located near the Orion arm, between Perseus and Sagittarius. The sun is orbiting at a distance of about 30,000 km from the Milky Way.

It is interesting to note that recent studies by astronomers suggest that the Milky Way is actually a barred spiral galaxy and not just a spiral galaxy.

How do the Sun and our Galaxy move around the Milky Way?

1. The sun rotates the earth every 24 hours. The Sun itself rotates, but not at the same speed over its entire surface. Sunspot movements show that the Sun rotates once every 27 days at its equator, but only once every 31 days at its poles.
2. As already mentioned, all the stars in the Galaxy revolve around the Galactic Center, but not with the same period. Stars in the center have a shorter period than those farther away. The Sun is in the outer part of the Galaxy. Based on indications of distance and speed, the period of the solar system's passage around the Milky Way is called a cosmic year. For 5 billion years of lifeThe Sun has orbited the Galaxy more than 20 times.
3. The sun moves up and down during its galactic rotation like a carousel.
4. The Milky Way and Andromeda are in the Local Group. The entire Local Group is moving towards the Virgo Cluster. This conclusion was proposed by López Luis.

In ancient times, all ideas about the essence of the Galaxy were based on philosophy, searching and imagining how the parts fit together. Using this approach, it was Aristotle who suggested that all the planets revolve around perfect circles, and the stars are enclosed in a perfect sphere that encloses the planet Earth. Formal ideas about the principle of particle attraction, starting with atoms, made it possible for a person to understand that the knowledge of the boundaries or the infinity of the Galaxy is one of the most pressing issues of mankind. This gave a huge impetus to the study of the structure of outer space.