IS THE SUN MOVING?

BhLa...TpKz

17 Jan 2024

130

What is Solar Apex? Where Is This Sun Going?

Let's go out and hold a microphone to adult members of the public and ask, "Is the Sun a star or a planet?" We are aware that we are in a time when even three out of ten people cannot answer 'star', but the question asked by a child who is young but whose dream space profile is big made this headline pop. Let's first look at the familiar movements of the Sun and then talk about what Solar Apex means.

How many types of motion does the Earth have? When we say this, it would undoubtedly be appropriate to remember that our teachers at school taught us that the Earth has two types of motion. One of these is that the Earth rotates around its axis, thus creating day and night. Secondly, the Earth moves around the Sun, thus creating seasons. Although these teachings are considered true, as a result of serial observations and research conducted in recent years, it has been revealed that the Solar System, of which our planet is a member, has a unique movement.

The Earth's orbit around the Sun is 30 km per second. At this speed, the Earth travels 108,000 km in one hour, which is approximately one quarter of the distance between the Moon and the Earth. The distance it travels in one day reaches 2,592,000 km. Meanwhile, the Sun; Together with the Earth and other planets, it is heading towards the star Vega, located near the constellation Hercules.

Although the speed of this movement is 20 km per second, it is an accepted speed compared to the stars of our system that are relatively 'close' to us. That is, it is a relatively slow movement in terms of coordinates. Moreover, this movement should not be confused with the movement of the Sun on the imaginary Zodiac constellations.

In this case, while the Earth rotates around its own axis, it also spirals in its orbit around the Sun. Of course, in order to make this spiral movement of the Earth meaningful, we need to attach a pen that can write in space and wait for the line that the pen will create for a few million years.

Naturally, other planets also participate in this movement of the Sun due to their gravitational force. In other words, the Earth and all the planets drift with the Sun. In this case, the Sun and the entire system will not pass a point in space again. It has been understood that this movement of the Sun places it in the orbital plane at an angle of 37 degrees with the north polar axis. This angle is called Solar Apex. The first person to determine a direction for the solar apex was British astronomer William Herschel in 1783.

While Apex means peak, summit, tip, Solar Apex is used to mean the target point of the Sun's movement. In short, we are drifting, friends 🙂

But we must add here that this movement of the Sun should not be confused with other existing movements. While all objects in the Solar System revolve around the Sun, the Sun and the entire Solar System complete their rotation around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at a speed of 220 km per second, in approximately 250 million years. Of course, we should not forget the movement of the Sun around its own axis (the Sun rotates around its axis at a speed of 70,000 km per hour and completes a full rotation in approximately 25 days).

The Helical Model

Here I cannot help but add the words of our uncle Galileo: "The Sun works for months to turn a bunch of groves into a bunch of grapes, as if it had nothing else to do."

Even though we say that the Sun is an ordinary star among the 200-400 billion stars in our star city, our galaxy, the Milky Way, it really has a lot to do.

If we were to make a summary list of the works of the Sun:

Producing energy by fighting against gravity; to maintain “hydrostatic balance”,
Creating balance to the centrifugal force of objects revolving around it with the "gravitational force",
Rotating around its own axis,
Circling "with the system" around the center of the Milky Way galaxy,
Drifting by making a Solar Apex angle.

There is a lot behind the definition of the sun as 'our source of heat, light and life', let's not be unfair.