How does the Earth travel the Solar System?

Answer 1

-- On the smallest scale, the Earth and moon both revolve around their common

center of mass. Since the Earth is roughly 80 times as massive as the moon, that

common center of revolution is inside the Earth.

-- On the next larger scale, the Sun, and that common center of the Earth/Moon pair,

both revolve around their common center of mass. Since the sun is roughly 329,000

times as massive as the Earth/Moon pair, that common center of revolution is inside

the sun.

-- On the next larger scale, the Sun, and everything gravitationally bound to it, known

as the "Solar System" and including the Earth, revolves around the common center of

mass of itself and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy. Since the Milky Way Galaxy as a

whole may be as much as 400 billion times as massive as the solar system, that common

center of mass is essentially at the exact center of the galaxy.

Answer 2

The Earth rotates on its axis giving us dy and night. The Earth also is in orbit around the Sun, taking one year to complete one orbit. All the planets have orbits that re in almost the same plane.

Answer 3

All of the planets move in a subtle balance of forces established in a complex gravitational system, made up of many, many different bodies. Gravity not only keeps the Solar System moving in orbit around the Sun, and the moon in orbit around the Earth, it also controls the pattern of motion of the Sun through the Milky Way, and on a grander scale, it is gravity that keeps our galaxy in motion in the universe. Isaac newton suggested that comets move according to the same laws that control the planets in their orbits. Edmond Halley successfully predicted that a certain comet, which has now been named Halley's comet, would reappear at a specific time. The regular elliptical movement of the comet, passing around the Sun, then way out into Space, means we know that the comet has regular motion, and that this motion is controlled by gravity. All of the matter in our Solar System, the small bodies, planets, satellites, stars, all of the bodies that move around within it, are a fine balance of matter and forces. And the motion of all matter found in our Solar System is controlled by the universal force of gravity.