You were taught that Earth and other planets in our solar system orbit the sun, and that our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way. Is it possible that your science teacher had it wrong? Is everything you’ve learned about physics and gravity incorrect?

Does The Earth Technically Orbit The Sun?

Let us first start by saying that for all practical purposes, what you were taught isn’t entirely wrong. The Earth does in fact orbit the sun. In the strictest sense, however, it doesn’t.

“But how can this be?”, you might ask. It’s been tested, verified and is common knowledge. It’s one of the first science lessons taught to kids in in grade school. How can our fundamental understanding of the solar system be wrong? Well, it’s actually due to a technicality.

Where Is The Barycenter?

Everything that has mass has gravity. The more massive something is, the more gravity it has. The sun and other planets all each have their own “gravity well” which interact and pull on one another. Because there are several different gravity wells interacting with each other, it means that everything in an orbital system (like our solar system) orbit the center of mass of the system. This center of mass is called the. The Earth, the sun and everything else in our solar system actually orbit this barycenter – not the sun.

In a single star system like ours, most of the time (but not always), the barycenter is located somewhere within the star itself. However, most barycenters continuously change as massive objects (like planets) orbit a star.

If an unusual alignment happens where a large percentage of mass is on one side of the star, the barycenter can exist outside of the star’s radius. In cases of two star systems, the barycenter will be located between the two stars. If the stars aren’t of the same mass, it will be closer to the heavier, or more massive one.

Bonus Fact: The Earth doesn’t even orbit where the barycenter currently is. It orbits where it was roughly eight minutes ago. If the sun suddenly vanished, we would continue to our orbit it for another 8 minutes before shooting off on some random tangent because gravity isn’t instantaneous – it propagates at roughly the speed of light.

Fun Facts About Our Sun

References:

– http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/9909087 (PDF)

– Murray, Carl; Stanley Dermott (1999). Solar System Dynamics. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-57295-9.

– Hartle, JB (2003). Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein’s General Relativity. Addison-Wesley. p. 332.

– Taylor, Edwin F. and Wheeler, John Archibald, Spacetime Physics, 2nd edition, 1991, p. 12.