Strange

Earth Moon Orbit

by Professor | January 15, 2009 at 08:01 am

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The Moon orbits the Earth and the Earth orbits the sun but is it the Earths Centre that is in orbit around the Sun or the "mass moment point" which connects the Moon to the Earth?.

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Emilio Lizardo

at 08:54 on January 15th, 2009

It may be helpful to think about the Earth and it's main satellite, the Moon, as the 'Earth-Moon system,' and the manner in which they orbit one another as more like a dance than anything else. That is to say, the Earth orbits the Moon as the Moon orbits the Earth - each kind of pulling the other along, the way two dancers might as they 'twirl' together across a dance floor - if that makes any sense ...

Anyway, technically speaking, the balance point, or possibly, 'fulcrum,' if you will, of this Earth-Moon system is referred to as the Earth-Moon Barycenter, and it is this barycenter which actually orbits the Sun.

Earth-Moon Barycenter
The center of mass of the Earth-Moon system, is a point in space about which the Earth and Moon appear to orbit as they travel around the Sun. It is located exactly along the line that connects the center of the Earth with the center of the Moon.

Hope this helps.