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Mama! (mander.xyz)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 8 points 10 months ago (10 children)

Does the sun actually travel in a straight line, or do the orbits of the planets wobble it, and to what extent?

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  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Everything in the solar system (even the Son) orbit around the center of mass of everything in the solar system. This epicenter is just outside of the Son, on the side that Jupiter is. So the Son wobbles by a little bit more than 1 of its radii.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    This epicenter is just outside of the Son

    *Sometimes. The other planets can counterbalance Jupiter's effect on the barycenter to pull it back into the surface of the Sun.

    Also, it's Sun, not Son

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    barycenter

    That's the word I couldn't remember.

    Also, it’s Sun, not Son

    Yeah, I don't know how I messed that up 3 times. I think my brain was stuck between calling it the Sun and Sol. Also the mama and son/sun puns in this thread.

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    I am under the impression that straight lines don't really exist in the Universe.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    Juipiter's orbit wobbles it, as others said, the barycenter of the system is outside the sun's radius, but the scale of the planets vs their orbits is so great such a small wobble is imperceptable if you can see multiple orbits.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    I think the graph shows relative position of the planets from the sun, so the straight line is just a baseline.

    Like if you jump up and down on a plane, and the graph just shows you moving a couple of feet up and down rather than including the entire altitude change of the plane itself

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