r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/StemCellPirate • 13h ago

Video Earth’s evolution measured in galactic years.

950 Upvotes

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136

u/Initial_Gear_7354 12h ago

Not through the milkyway, but with it

9

u/Kaporalhart 8h ago

hang on, is it this an artist's point of views, or is the sun's orbit really jagged like that ? Aren't all orbit trajectories ellipses ?

14

u/Larek_Flynn 7h ago

Elliptical with a single central mass to orbit. In a galaxy you are pulled towards the center on average but each part of the disk also pulls you. If your path would move up away from the disk, it pulls you back down. So it's like you orbit around the center while also bouncing up and down.

4

u/ObscureOperatorZ 5h ago

Kind of like a manta ray's flaps