Earth at the Center of the Universe

ChaosKnight · Post by **ChaosKnight** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:02 pm

In the end it's all just relative motion.

Post by **weixing** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:59 pm

Hi,
Nice try, But I hope you are not going into the direction that I think you are going...

Below are two reason why earth is not center of the solar system (taken from internet):
1) If the Earth moved around the sun, then we should be looking at the stars from a slightly different direction when the Earth is on opposite sides of the sun, and so the stars should appear to change position. This is called "parallax". All nearby stars have had their parallax measured and the only explanation for parallax is that the Earth is moving in a circle.

2) We can also prove that the Earth is moving in a circle due to the Doppler shift. We can use light from a star to determine how fast it is moving. When we look at stars at different times of the year, we find that their speed changes. At one point a star might be moving toward us at 30 kilometers per second (11,000 kilometers per hour!), and six months later the same star is moving away from us at 30 kilometers a second. This changing Doppler shift is observed in every star, and the Earth's motion around the sun explains this observation.

Have a nice day.

hanif_90 · Post by **hanif_90** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:20 pm

so in simpler terms? what does that mean?

Meng Lee · Post by **Meng Lee** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:23 pm

The simple answer from Weixing is that Earth is not in the centre of the universe and not in the centre of the solar system.

Post by **zong** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:57 pm

The simulation looks cool nonetheless!

Of course after so much science and observation has been done, i don't think anyone can doubt that the Earth is indeed revolving around the Sun and not the other way round.

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:04 am

mmm...I think all of you misunderstood chaos night.
The attachment plots the motions of the planets as seen from earth, hence his title. You can see the retrograde movements that got the old astronomers questioning if we are the centre of the universe. It was only when they placed the sun in the middle of our solar system that they were able to reconcle the strange movements of the planets which is what this simulation is supposed to depict. I think its a pretty cool simulation!

Post by **weixing** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:41 am

Hi,

I think its a pretty cool simulation!

Yes... it's a nice simulation...

May be he can teach us how he applied all those "deep deep" formula to come out all his simulation.

Have a nice day.

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:32 am

My ex used to think the universe revolves around her!

Post by **acc** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:51 pm

"Earth at the Center of the Universe" certainly doesn't belong to "General Astronomy" but qualify as kopitiam chatter, so I am moving this thread to Coffee Corner. There's a saying among scientists that 'all models are wrong' and this fun simulation certainly belongs to that category!!

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:37 pm

Relatively speaking, the Earth IS at the 'center' of the universe. Other aliens will also rightly perceive that their planet is at the center of the universe. But the Earth is NOT at the centre of the solar system.