1. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
Learning Target(s):
E5.p1D - Describe the position and motion of our solar system in our galaxy.

2. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
Milky Way Galaxy Picture

3. You Are Here!!!

4. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
Each Day We Are On Earth We Travel 1,598,400 Miles Around The Sun
That works out to:
18.5 miles/sec
1,110 miles/minute
66,600 miles/hour

5. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
Each Day We Are On Earth We Travel 24,855 Miles On Our Axis
That works out to:
1040 miles/hour
17.3 miles/minute
.3 miles/second

6. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
The sun is about 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is about 100,000 light- years!

7. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
How Far Is This???

8. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
5,865,696,000,000 miles/year x 100,000 l.y. =
5,865,696,000,000,000,000 (quintillion) miles/year

9. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
It takes the sun (and our solar system) roughly million years to orbit once around the Milky Way.

11. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
In other words, that last time that the Sun was in its current position in space around the Milky Way, dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

12. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
In fact, this Sun orbit has only happened 20.4 times since the Sun itself formed 4.6 billion years ago.

13. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
It’s estimated that the Sun will continue fusing hydrogen for another 7 billon years or so. In other words, it only has another 31 orbits it can make before it runs out of fuel.

14. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
In this orbit, we (and the rest of the Solar System) are traveling at a velocity of about 155 miles/sec.
How Far Is This???
Hamilton, MI to South Lyon, MI…In 1 Second!!!

15. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
Since the Sun is 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way, it has to travel at an astonishing speed of 485,912 mi/hour in a circular orbit around the Milky Way center.
How Fast Is This???
You could travel around Earth 19.5 times in an hour!
485,912/24,901 = 19.5 times!!!

16. Notes – Motion Of Our Solar System In Our Galaxy
Just for comparison, the Earth is rotating at a speed of 1,100 mi/hour, and it’s moving at a speed of 67,108 mi/hour around the Sun.