NASA Office of Planetary Protection. Considering the motion of the Earth, the solar system, and the galaxy, how fast am I moving while lying in bed asleep? Figuring in the Earth's spin, its rotation around the sun, the suns rotation around the galaxy, and the galaxy's rotation around the center of the universe (wherever that is) how fast am I moving even while lying in bed asleep?
Well, it depends. Your latitude on Earth--that is, how close you are to the equator--and the time of year make a difference. I'll explain why. Your motion is made up of four pieces: the rotation of the Earth on its axis, the motion of the Earth around the Sun, the Sun's orbit about the center of the galaxy, and the motion of the whole galaxy. Now, at the equator, the Earth's rotation translates into a speed of about 0.5 km/s (you can find these numbers here).
But if you are at the North or South pole, the speed due to rotation is zero! If this doesn't make sense immediately, imagine a person standing on the equator. Next, the Earth moves at about 30 km/s in its orbit around the Sun. So that sums up the first three kinds of motion. Adding everything up, we get: Photopic Sky Survey. Interactive 3D model of Solar System Planets and Night Sky - StumbleUpon. 2012 March 12 - The Scale of the Universe Interactive. Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2012 March 12 The Scale of the Universe - Interactive Flash Animation Credit & Copyright: Cary & Michael Huang Explanation: What does the universe look like on small scales?
On large scales? Humanity is discovering that the universe is a very different place on every proportion that has been explored. For example, so far as we know, every tiny proton is exactly the same, but every huge galaxy is different. Tomorrow's picture: dust before galaxies Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD at NASA / GSFC& Michigan Tech.