Which direction is Earth Travelling Through Space

I believe direction is one of those things that really does not exist. Like time. Especially in space, here on Earth those things are human constructs to 'measure' things that simply..are. It is all relative on the location of observation right?

Its traveling 'round'.

Earth round, spins round, goes round Sun. Sun round, spins rounds, goes round Galaxy. Galaxy round, spins round, goes round...

I watched a Discovery Channel on a similar topic a few months ago. You may be able to find it if you look.
In a brief synopsis, we are moving away from the center of the universe no matter where we are at.
It sounds confusing and to me it is so you should look for it yourself but it is out there on the Discovery Channel.
But if it makes you happy, you just choose the direction and I will follow.

a reply to: ImmortalLegend527


Ummm...Forward...?




YouSir

Interesting quesiton..
Alot of replies in this thread suggest that there is not a clear answer.. perhaps our super computers will come up with a answer in the future.

I would like to know if we are moving towards the center or just going around staying in the same ring formation.
Or in other words, will our distance to the center of the milkyway change before the sun blow up ?

Either in that direction or that direction, maybe in that direction or possibly in that direction.

Scientific answer:

Thataway--->



But, really, the answer is exceedingly difficult to give. Concepts like NSEW only pertain to this planet, so using them CAN actually yield an answer, but it would be a bit like putting the cart before the horse and wouldn't involve a single term answer like North (at least not with any accuracy).

These things are explored in relative terms. So, we need to define what object we wish to relate the direction of Earths movement. The issue then becomes that that object is also moving, and concepts like NSEW rely on static objects, even if its just a concept (i.e. we perceive our location on our planet as static, and therefore, can use a concept like "North"). But even here, if you keep heading north, you will eventually be heading south. The relationship between the x and y axes are not equivalent in this respect, and that is derived by the nature of the comparison. Once movement over time is truly introduced, even on this planet alone, simplifying into single term answers can be tricky.

So, yeah:

Thataway--->

allows for the vagueness and malleability needed for an answer in a single term. I think its actually a pretty damn good question, but despite its simple appearance, the answer isn't easy.

Hopefully not too much was lost in translation from "brain to paper." Something seems off, but someone else can probably identify it more easily.

originally posted by: Akragon
a reply to: ImmortalLegend527

I would say this is the best guess as far as we know...

But again, which direction is this?

Perhaps away from where it all started?

I googled this question and nothing comes up i'm so baffled because i just would like to know are we moving away from stars or moving towards them.

a reply to: ImmortalLegend527

both i suppose...

Apparently the Andromeda Galaxy is headed our way, and eventually will collide with ours... and likely over time become one with ours

originally posted by: verschickter
If it´s true that the universe is expanding then I think this would be the ultimate direction. So if you look into the center, it´s like you look out of the rear window in a car.

With that being said ,it's been told that if we look backwards in our solar system we can see how the universe was some billion years ago, so which way is backwards?

a reply to: ImmortalLegend527

so which way is backwards?

That way?

originally posted by: hillbilly4rent

Which direction is Earth Travelling Through Space

Around in circles, kind of circling a drain.

Maybe i asked the wrong question maybe i should of asked which way is this galaxy headed..i don't know.

I understood that we're generally headed in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. Coincidentially (or not), that's where the arrow is pointing.

from the Black-Hole center of Our Galaxy, our Sun & solar system are rotating clockwise but in a several million year 'sine-wave' from crest-to-trough

the solar system is itself just about perpendicular to the Galactic Plane... imagine the Earth orbit around the Sun as being a coin standing on edge in relation to the Galaxy Core... so the Earth orbit would look like this straight line -> I O upward and to ones' left...
is that what your looking for ?



THE ATS POST PROGRAM IS F---DED UP
I HAVE MY POST ALLL SCRAMBLED UP AND NONSENSICAL



I WILL TRY AGAIN TO COPY-PASTE MY ORIGINAL REPLY"

from the Black-Hole center of Our Galaxy, our Sun & solar system are rotating clockwise but in a several million year 'sine-wave' from crest-to-trough

the solar system is itself just about perpendicular to the Galactic Plane... imagine the Earth orbit around the Sun as being a coin standing on edge in relation to the Galaxy Core... so the Earth orbit would look like this straight line -> I O upward and to ones' left...
is that what your looking for ?

I GIVE UP WITH THIS POSTING MESS....SUCKS

edit on th31147103658912162016 by St Udio because: (no reason given)

originally posted by: Box of Rain
a reply to: ImmortalLegend527

If you were hovering above the solar system, looking down on the north pole of the earth, then the earth would be moving anti-clockwise around the Sun.

The galaxy has been given an arbitrary "north" and "south" by astronomers, and the "north" of the solar system sort of matches that orientation -- although I say "sort of" because the solar system is tilted at about 60 degrees to the plane of the galaxy, with the solar systems' "north" pointing up and away from the galactic core....

...So if we were hovering above the galactic plane and looking down on the "north pole" of the galaxy, the spiral arms of the galaxy, and our solar system in one of those arms, would be appearing to spinning clockwise.

I decided to add a picture to go along with my earlier post:

I believe the correct and only answer is simply away. We're moving away from everything else. As the universe is constantly expanding, it means that we are constantly moving away from all other objects all the time in all directions equally.

There is no North, South, East, or West in space, nor is there left, right, up, down, forward, or backward. There's just space.

originally posted by: intrptr

Its traveling 'round'.

Earth round, spins round, goes round Sun. Sun round, spins rounds, goes round Galaxy. Galaxy round, spins round, goes round...

Weeeee!

Sorry couldn't help myself.

Op, generally the theory is our galaxy (The Milky Way) is heading in a general direction of the Andromeda galaxy, as we keep getting closer gravity will take effect more and more till we "collide" but it'll be more like merging.

Gravity is king and I suppose the best way to measure things on such a huge scale would be by the heaviest thing around, the Milky Way is the biggest thing around and has a super-massive black hole so basically everything is tagging along with that.

originally posted by: St Udio
from the Black-Hole center of Our Galaxy, our Sun & solar system are rotating clockwise but in a several million year 'sine-wave' from crest-to-trough

the solar system is itself just about perpendicular to the Galactic Plane... imagine the Earth orbit around the Sun as being a coin standing on edge in relation to the Galaxy Core... so the Earth orbit would look like this straight line -> I O upward and to ones' left...
is that what your looking for ?


THE ATS POST PROGRAM IS F---DED UP
I HAVE MY POST ALLL SCRAMBLED UP AND NONSENSICAL



I WILL TRY AGAIN TO COPY-PASTE MY ORIGINAL REPLY"

from the Black-Hole center of Our Galaxy, our Sun & solar system are rotating clockwise but in a several million year 'sine-wave' from crest-to-trough





so IF there is any gravitational torque resulting from our momentum.... it would be described as being---> upward and to ones' left...
is that what your looking for ?

I GIVE UP WITH THIS POSTING MESS....SUCKS

If I had to make a determination, I would say the direction is forwards.

a reply to: RAY1990

Gravity is king and I suppose the best way to measure things on such a huge scale would be by the heaviest thing around, the Milky Way is the biggest thing around and has a super-massive black hole so basically everything is tagging along with that.

The black hole in our galaxy isn't going round anything?

Black hole round, spins round, goes round Universe. Universe round, spins round, goes round... other Universes.