How fast is Earth moving around the Sun? | Tech News

How fast is Earth moving around the Sun?

Yes, we are travelling even when we are standing still! We are space travellers! Here we explain how fast is Earth moving around the Sun.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Aug 21 2022, 23:18 IST
Earth is moving around the Sun as well as on its axis. It takes 365.25 days to complete its orbit around the Sun.
Earth is moving around the Sun as well as on its axis. It takes 365.25 days to complete its orbit around the Sun. (Google Earth)
Earth is moving around the Sun as well as on its axis. It takes 365.25 days to complete its orbit around the Sun.
Earth is moving around the Sun as well as on its axis. It takes 365.25 days to complete its orbit around the Sun. (Google Earth)

It might look like we are standing still on the Earth but it's not true. We are travelling even when we are standing still! We are space travellers! Earth is constantly moving around the sun and it also spins on its axis, like a top or a basketball on the tip of a player's finger. Earth's rotation on its own axis causes day and night. In other words, Earth takes around 24 hours or, to be precise, every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to complete one rotation on its own axis. The circumference of the Earth is around 24,898 miles (40,070 kilometers) and hence, upon dividing the distance by time, it can be observe that the Earth is spinning around 1,037 mph ( 1,670 km/h).

There are many facts and theories about our Milky Way galaxy, solar system, planets and sun that are amazing to know. You just got to know how fast is Earth moving on its axis, now know more about this awesome fact as well as how fast is Earth moving around the Sun. 

How fast is earth moving around the sun and on its own axis 

According to space.com, circumference of the Earth at its equator is 40,070 kilometers, and the day is 24 hours long so the speed is 1670 kilometers/hour ( 1037 miles/hr) on its equator. However, it won't be moving quite as fast at other latitudes. This decreases as we move away from the Equator. If we move halfway up the globe to 45 degrees in latitude (either north or south), the speed of earth's rotation can be calculated by using the cosine (a trigonometric function) of the latitude i.e, cos(45) = .707 and the speed is .707 x 1670 = 1180 kilometers/hr. This formula can be used to find the speed of rotation at any latitude.

https://www.space.com/33527-how-fast-is-earth-moving.html 

And how fast is Earth moving around the Sun? The speed of the Earth around the Sun can be calculated through Kepler's laws describing planetary motions which states that all orbits are ellipses. However, not all ellipses come in the same shape, they are described by their eccentricity. The eccentricity is denoted between 0 and 1, 0 being a perfect circle, and close to 1 being a very flattened ellipse. With this formulation it turns out that the Earth's orbit has an eccentricity of about 0.017 which is almost a circle.

Earth takes about approx 365 days to revolve around the sun. We can calculate our planetary speed by calculating the distance from Earth to the sun — called an astronomical unit which is 92,955,807 miles (149,597,870 kilometers). That is the radius and the circumference of a circle is equal to 2 x π x r. With this calculation, we can derive that it travels about 584 million miles (940 million km). Earth's speed is calculated by dividing 584 million miles (940 million km) by 365.25 days which gives an estimated speed value of 1.6 million miles (2.6 million km) a day, or 66,627 mph (107,226 km/h).

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First Published Date: 07 Jan, 09:51 IST
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