Movement of the Sun?
 

In our scientific education we have the construct of the Sun sitting at the center of the solar system and planets revolving in elliptical orbits. the question I have is does the Sun have a dynamic to it and if it does move is there any sense as to what direction?

My question speaks to cosmologists(not trying to be smart, Boro) or any other readings as to solar movement. Any theory is welcomed even if not accepted science. If there is movement what is its direction(perhaps moving toward a specific point in the cosmos).

For those who do not know all speculations are welcomed.

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

It is orbiting the center of the galaxy, and the galaxy itself is moving relative to its neighbors.

The earth is of course "along for the ride" - but the galaxy is so wide, and takes so long to orbit, that we don't notice the sun's acceleration unless we look really, really hard for it.

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

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It is orbiting the center of the galaxy, and the galaxy itself is moving relative to its neighbors.

The earth is of course "along for the ride" - but the galaxy is so wide, and takes so long to orbit, that we don't notice the sun's acceleration unless we look really, really hard for it.

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Is there any work which states the speed of the sun through the galaxy? If so, how is this speed relative to the earth's movement? Thanx.

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

According to Google, it's ~220km/s

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/AngelaChan.shtml

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

Thanx

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

Its motion through the galaxy has been explained already, but there are also local dynamics in play. The Sun doesn't actually sit still at the center of the Solar System: it has its own orbit as well.

In the two body problem, each body orbits the common center of gravity (the barycenter). Jupiter is large enough that the Sun actually orbits a point slightly above its own surface. The Earth makes it wobble a tiny amount too (a few hundred kms I think), as do the other planets, but Jupiter's effect probably accounts for >99% of the Sun's wobble.

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Its motion through the galaxy has been explained already, but there are also local dynamics in play. The Sun doesn't actually sit still at the center of the Solar System: it has its own orbit as well.

In the two body problem, each body orbits the common center of gravity (the barycenter). Jupiter is large enough that the Sun actually orbits a point slightly above its own surface. The Earth makes it wobble a tiny amount too (a few hundred kms I think), as do the other planets, but Jupiter's effect probably accounts for >99% of the Sun's wobble.

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I always laugh when people ridicule ancient people who "knew" the sun goes round earth when today everyone "knows" the earth revolves around the sun.

I mean it seems to me they're both dumb in the same way lol.

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

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I always laugh when people ridicule ancient people who "knew" the sun goes round earth when today everyone "knows" the earth revolves around the sun.

I mean it seems to me they're both dumb in the same way lol.

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Yea, because in the first case they had the bible and all telling them that the Earth was the center of the universe and in the latter case all we have is centuries of observation and mathematical models that have matched those observations. Both seem pretty equal to me...

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

Well, your average modern nation citizen has an enormous information intake compared to people in older times. A week's worth of information now can be a lifetime's worth for 300-400 years ago - so don't laugh to high, people do know far more on average.

What I would miss is the broadly educated academic, though for the same information reasons that is very difficult now. Still, some wide knowledge of several fields would have been nice.

Re: Movement of the Sun?
 

Someone probably already answered this (IDNRTT), but the Sun orbits the galactic center about once every quarter of a billion years or so, and on its way round bobs up an down throught the disk. I famously screwed up this very calculation in this very forum because I neglected the mass in the disk, and "derived" that the period of oscillation was the same as the orbital period, when the correct answer is that the Sun bobs up and down about 7 times each orbit; the truly embarrasing part is that my research involves the simulation of gaseous disks. I can only plead that in my research the mass of the disk is completely negligible compared to the mass of the object it is orbiting. Plus stupidity. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]