Where are we heading? The movement of the solar system in the vastness of the universe.

Even sitting on a chair in front of a computer screen and clicking on links, we are physically engaged in a variety of movements. Where are we going? Where is the "top" of the movement, its apex?

First, we participate in the rotation of the Earth around its axis. it daily movement points to the east point on the horizon. The speed of movement depends on the latitude; it is equal to 465 * cos (φ) m / s. Thus, if you are at the north or south pole of the Earth, then you are not participating in this movement. And let's say, in Moscow, the daily linear speed is about 260 m / s. The angular velocity of the apex of daily motion relative to the stars is easy to calculate: 360 ° / 24 hours = 15 ° / hour.

Secondly, the Earth, and we together with it, moves around the Sun. (We will neglect the small monthly wobble around the center of mass of the Earth-Moon system.) Average speed annual movement in orbit - 30 km / sec. At perihelion at the beginning of January it is slightly higher, at aphelion at the beginning of July it is slightly lower, but since the Earth's orbit is almost an exact circle, the speed difference is only 1 km / s. The orbital apex naturally shifts and completes a full circle in a year. Its ecliptic latitude is 0 degrees, and its longitude is equal to the longitude of the Sun plus approximately 90 degrees - λ = λ ☉ + 90 °, β = 0. In other words, the apex lies on the ecliptic, 90 degrees ahead of the Sun. Accordingly, the angular velocity of the apex is equal to the angular velocity of the Sun's motion: 360 ° / year, slightly less than a degree per day.

We carry out larger-scale movements already together with our Sun as part of the Solar system.

First, the sun is moving relatively nearby stars(so-called local rest standard). The travel speed is about 20 km / sec (slightly more than 4 AU / year). Note that this is even less than the speed of the Earth in orbit. The movement is directed towards the constellation Hercules, and the equatorial coordinates of the apex are α = 270 °, δ = 30 °. However, if we measure the speed relative to all bright stars, visible to the naked eye, then we get the standard motion of the Sun, it is somewhat different, less in speed than 15 km / s ~ 3 AU. / year). This is also the constellation Hercules, although the apex is slightly displaced (α = 265 °, δ = 21 °). But relative to the interstellar gas, the solar system moves slightly faster (22-25 km / s), but the apex is significantly shifted and falls into the constellation Ophiuchus (α = 258 °, δ = -17 °). This shift of the apex of about 50 ° is associated with the so-called. by the "interstellar wind" "blowing from the south" of the Galaxy.

All three described movements are, so to speak, local movements, "walks in the yard". But the Sun, together with the nearest and generally visible stars (after all, we practically do not see too distant stars), together with clouds of interstellar gas, revolves around the center of the Galaxy - and these are completely different speeds!

The speed of movement of the solar system around the center of the galaxy is 200 km / s (more than 40 AU / year). However, the indicated value is inaccurate, it is difficult to determine the galactic speed of the Sun; After all, we do not even see what we are measuring the motion in relation to: the center of the Galaxy is hidden by dense interstellar clouds of dust. The value is constantly being refined and tends to decrease; not so long ago, it was taken for 230 km / s (this value can often be found), and recent studies give results even less than 200 km / s. Galactic motion occurs perpendicular to the direction to the center of the Galaxy and therefore the apex has galactic coordinates l = 90 °, b = 0 ° or in the more familiar equatorial coordinates - α = 318 °, δ = 48 °; this point is in Lebed. Because this is a reversal movement, the apex is displaced and completes a full circle in a "galactic year," roughly 250 million years; its angular velocity is ~ 5 "/ 1000 years, one and a half degrees per million years.

Further movements include the movement of the whole Galaxy. Measuring such a movement is also not easy, the distances are too great, and the error in the numbers is still quite large.

Thus, our Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy, two massive objects of the Local Group of Galaxies, are gravitationally attracted and moving towards each other at a speed of about 100-150 km / s, with the main component of the speed belonging to our galaxy. The lateral component of the movement is not precisely known, and concerns about collision are premature. An additional contribution to this movement is made by the massive galaxy M33, located approximately in the same direction as the Andromeda galaxy. In general, the speed of motion of our Galaxy relative to the barycenter Local group of galaxies about 100 km / s approximately in the direction of Andromeda / Lizard (l = 100, b = -4, α = 333, δ = 52), but these data are still very approximate. This is a very modest relative speed: the Galaxy is displaced by its own diameter in two to three hundred million years, or, very approximately, in galactic year.

If we measure the speed of the Galaxy relatively distant galaxy clusters, we will see a different picture: both our galaxy and the rest of the galaxies of the Local Group, together as a whole, move in the direction of the large Virgo cluster at about 400 km / s. This movement is also driven by gravitational forces.

Background relict radiation defines a certain preferred frame of reference associated with all baryonic matter in the observable part of the Universe. In a sense, motion relative to this microwave background is motion relative to the Universe as a whole (this motion should not be confused with the scattering of galaxies!). It is possible to determine this movement by measuring dipole temperature anisotropy uneven relic radiation in different directions... Such measurements showed an unexpected and important thing: all galaxies in the closest to us part of the Universe, including not only our Local Group, but also the Virgo cluster and other clusters, move relative to the background relict radiation at an unexpectedly high speed. For the Local Group of galaxies, it is 600-650 km / s with an apex in the constellation Hydra (α = 166, δ = -27). It looks so that somewhere in the depths of the Universe there is still an undetected huge cluster of many superclusters attracting the matter of our part of the Universe. This hypothetical cluster was named Great Attractor.

How was the speed of the Local Group of Galaxies determined? Of course, in fact, astronomers measured the speed of the Sun relative to the microwave background: it turned out to be ~ 390 km / s with an apex with coordinates l = 265 °, b = 50 ° (α = 168, δ = -7) on the border of the constellations Leo and Chalice. Then we determined the speed of the Sun relative to the galaxies of the Local Group (300 km / s, constellation Lizard). It was no longer difficult to calculate the speed of the Local Group.

Anyone, even lying on a sofa or sitting near a computer, is in constant motion. This continuous movement in outer space has a variety of directions and tremendous speeds. First of all, the Earth moves around its axis. In addition, the planet revolves around the sun. But that's not all. We cover much more impressive distances together with the solar system.

The Sun is one of the stars located in the plane of the Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy. It is 8 kpc distant from the center, and 25 pc from the galactic plane. The stellar density in our region of the Galaxy is approximately 0.12 stars per pc3. The position of the solar system is not constant: it is in constant motion relative to nearby stars, interstellar gas, and finally, around the center of the Milky Way. For the first time, the movement of the solar system in the galaxy was noticed by William Herschel.

Moving relative to nearby stars

The speed of movement of the Sun to the border of the constellations Hercules and Lyra is 4 a.s. per year, or 20 km / s. The velocity vector is directed to the so-called apex - the point to which the movement of other nearby stars is also directed. Directions of the speeds of stars, incl. The suns intersect at the opposite point to the apex, called the antiapex.

Moving relative to visible stars

Separately, the movement of the Sun in relation to bright stars, which can be seen without a telescope, is measured. This is an indication of the standard movement of the Sun. The speed of such movement is 3 AU. per year or 15 km / s.

Moving relative to interstellar space

In relation to interstellar space, the solar system is already moving faster, the speed is 22-25 km / s. In this case, under the influence of the "interstellar wind" that "blows" from the southern region of the Galaxy, the apex is shifted to the constellation Ophiuchus. The shift is estimated to be around 50.

Moving around the center of the Milky Way

The solar system is in motion relative to the center of our Galaxy. It moves towards the constellation Cygnus. The velocity is about 40 AU. per year, or 200 km / s. A full turnover takes 220 million years. It is impossible to determine the exact speed, because the apex (the center of the Galaxy) is hidden from us behind dense clouds of interstellar dust. The apex shifts by 1.5 ° every million years, and makes a full circle in 250 million years, or 1 "galactic year.

There is no such thing in life as eternal peace of mind. Life itself is movement, and cannot exist without desires, fear, and feelings.
Thomas Hobbs

I found on YouTube a video with the theory of the spiral motion of the solar system through our galaxy. It didn’t strike me as convincing, but I would like to hear it from you. Is it scientifically correct?

Some of the statements in this video are correct. For example:

• planets revolve around the sun in approximately the same plane
• The solar system moves through the galaxy with an angle of 60 ° between the galactic plane and the plane of rotation of the planets
• The sun, during its rotation around the Milky Way, moves up and down and in and out in relation to the rest of the galaxy

All this is true, but at the same time, all these facts are shown incorrectly in the video.

It is known that the planets move around the Sun in ellipses, according to the laws of Kepler, Newton and Einstein. But the picture on the left is wrong in terms of scale. It is wrong in terms of shape, size and eccentricity. And while the orbits on the diagram to the right look less like ellipses, the orbits of the planets look something like this in terms of scale.

Let's take another example - the orbit of the Moon.

It is known that the Moon revolves around the Earth with a period of just under a month, and the Earth revolves around the Sun with a period of 12 months. Which of the above pictures best demonstrates the movement of the moon around the sun? If we compare the distances from the Sun to the Earth and from the Earth to the Moon, as well as the speed of rotation of the Moon around the Earth, and the Earth / Moon system around the Sun, it turns out that the situation is best demonstrated by option D. They can be exaggerated to achieve some effects , but quantitatively options A, B and C are incorrect.

Now let's move on to the movement of the solar system through the galaxy.

How many inaccuracies it contains. First, all the planets at any given time are in the same plane. There is no lag that the planets more distant from the Sun would demonstrate in relation to those less distant.

Secondly, let's remember the real speeds of the planets. Mercury moves in our system faster than everyone else, revolving around the Sun at a speed of 47 km / s. This is 60% faster than Earth's orbital speed, about 4 times faster than Jupiter, and 9 times faster than Neptune, which orbits at 5.4 km / s. And the Sun flies through the galaxy at a speed of 220 km / s.

In the time required by Mercury for one revolution, the entire solar system flies 1.7 billion kilometers in its intragalactic elliptical orbit. At the same time, the radius of the orbit of Mercury is only 58 million kilometers, or only 3.4% of the distance to which the entire solar system is moving.

If we plotted the movement of the solar system across the galaxy on a scale, and looked at how the planets move, we would see the following:

Imagine that the entire system - the sun, the moon, all planets, asteroids, comets, move with great speed at an angle of about 60 ° relative to the plane of the solar system. Something like this:

Putting it all together, we get a more accurate picture:

What about precession? And also about the up-down and in-out vibrations? All this is true, but the video shows it in an overly exaggerated and misinterpreted form.

Indeed, the precession of the solar system occurs with a period of 26,000 years. But there is no spiraling movement, neither for the Sun, nor for the planets. The precession is carried out not by the orbits of the planets, but by the axis of rotation of the Earth.

The North Star is not permanently located directly above the North Pole. Most of the time, we don't have a polar star. 3000 years ago, Kohab was closer to the pole than the North Star. In 5500 years, Alderamin will become the polar star. And in 12,000 years Vega, the second brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere, will be only 2 degrees from the pole. But it is this that changes with a frequency of every 26,000 years, and not the movement of the Sun or the planets.

How about the solar wind?

This is radiation coming from the Sun (and all the stars), not what we crash into as we move through the galaxy. Hot stars emit rapidly moving charged particles. The boundary of the solar system passes where the solar wind no longer has the ability to repel the interstellar medium. There is the border of the heliosphere.

Now about moving up and down and in and out in relation to the galaxy.

Since the sun and solar system obey gravity, it is she who dominates their motion. Now the Sun is located at a distance of 25-27 thousand light years from the center of the galaxy, and moves around it in an ellipse. At the same time, all other stars, gas, dust, move along the galaxy also along ellipses. And the ellipse of the Sun is different from all the others.

With a period of 220 million years, the Sun makes a complete revolution around the galaxy, passing slightly above and below the center of the galactic plane. But since all other matter in the galaxy moves in the same way, the orientation of the galactic plane changes over time. We can move in an ellipse, but the galaxy is a rotating plate, so we move up and down along it with a period of 63 million years, although our movement in and out occurs with a period of 220 million years.

But the planets do not make any "corkscrew", their movement is distorted beyond recognition, the video incorrectly talks about the precession and the solar wind, and the text is full of errors. The simulation is very nice, but it would be much more beautiful if it was correct.

You are sitting, standing or lying while reading this article, and do not feel that the Earth rotates on its axis at a breakneck speed - about 1,700 km / h at the equator. However, the rotational speed does not seem so fast when converted to km / s. The result is 0.5 km / s - a barely noticeable flash on the radar, compared to other speeds around us.

Just like other planets in the solar system, the earth revolves around the sun. And in order to stay in its orbit, it moves at a speed of 30 km / s. Venus and Mercury, which are closer to the Sun, move faster, Mars, whose orbit passes beyond the orbit of the Earth, moves much slower than it.

But even the Sun does not stand in one place. Our Milky Way galaxy is huge, massive and also mobile! All stars, planets, gas clouds, dust particles, black holes, dark matter - all move relative to the common center of mass.

According to scientists, the Sun is located at a distance of 25,000 light years from the center of our galaxy and moves in an elliptical orbit, making a complete revolution every 220-250 million years. It turns out that the speed of the Sun is about 200-220 km / s, which is hundreds of times higher than the speed of the Earth's movement around the axis and tens of times higher than the speed of its movement around the Sun. This is how the movement of our solar system looks like.

Is the galaxy stationary? Again, no. Giant space objects have a large mass, and therefore create strong gravitational fields. Give the Universe some time (and we had it - about 13.8 billion years), and everything will begin to move in the direction of greatest attraction. That is why the Universe is not homogeneous, but consists of galaxies and groups of galaxies.

What does this mean for us?

This means that the Milky Way is being pulled towards itself by other galaxies and galaxy groups in the vicinity. This means that massive objects dominate this process. And this means that not only our galaxy, but all those around us are influenced by these "tractors". We are getting closer to understanding what is happening to us in outer space, but we still lack facts, for example:

• what were the initial conditions under which the universe was born;
• how the various masses in the galaxy move and change over time;
• how the Milky Way and surrounding galaxies and clusters formed;
• and how it is happening now.

However, there is a trick to help us figure it out.

The Universe is filled with relic radiation with a temperature of 2.725 K, which has been preserved since the time of the Big Bang. In some places there are tiny deviations - about 100 μK, but the overall temperature background is constant.

This is because the universe was formed in the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago and is still expanding and cooling.

380,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled to such a temperature that the formation of hydrogen atoms became possible. Before that, photons constantly interacted with the rest of the plasma particles: they collided with them and exchanged energy. As the Universe cools down, there are fewer charged particles, and the space between them is larger. The photons were able to move freely in space. The relic radiation is the photons that were emitted by the plasma towards the future location of the Earth, but escaped scattering, since the recombination has already begun. They reach the Earth through the space of the universe, which continues to expand.

You yourself can "see" this radiation. Interference that occurs on a blank TV channel when using a simple antenna like hare ears is 1% due to relic radiation.

And yet, the temperature of the relict background is not the same in all directions. According to the results of studies of the Planck mission, the temperature is slightly different in the opposite hemispheres of the celestial sphere: it is slightly higher in the regions of the sky south of the ecliptic - about 2.728 K, and lower in the other half - about 2.722 K.

This difference is almost 100 times greater than the rest of the observed fluctuations in the CMB temperature, and this is misleading. Why it happens? The answer is obvious - this difference is not due to fluctuations in the relict radiation, it appears because there is motion!

When you approach a light source or it approaches you, the spectral lines in the source's spectrum are shifted towards shorter wavelengths (violet shift), when you move away from it or it from you, spectral lines are shifted towards longer wavelengths (redshift).

The relic radiation cannot be more or less energetic, which means that we are moving through space. The Doppler effect helps determine that our solar system is moving relative to the relic radiation at a speed of 368 ± 2 km / s, and the local group of galaxies, including the Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy and the Triangulum galaxy, is moving at a speed of 627 ± 22 km / s relative to the relic radiation. These are the so-called peculiar velocities of galaxies, which amount to several hundred km / s. In addition to them, there are also cosmological velocities due to the expansion of the Universe and calculated according to the Hubble law.

Thanks to the residual radiation from the Big Bang, we can observe that everything in the Universe is constantly moving and changing. And our galaxy is only part of this process.

The Earth, together with the planets, revolves around the sun, and almost all people on Earth know this. A much smaller number of the planet's inhabitants already know that the Sun revolves around the center of our Milky Way galaxy. But that's not all. At the same time, our galaxy revolves around the center of the universe. Let's find out about it and watch some interesting video footage.

It turns out that the entire solar system moves together with the sun through the local interstellar cloud (the unchanged plane remains parallel to itself) at a speed of 25 km / s. This movement is directed almost perpendicular to the fixed plane.

Perhaps here we need to look for an explanation of the observed differences in the structure of the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun, stripes and spots of both hemispheres of Jupiter. In any case, this movement determines the possible encounters of the solar system with matter scattered in one form or another in interstellar space. The actual movement of the planets in space occurs along elongated helical lines (for example, the "stroke" of the propeller of Jupiter's orbit is 12 times larger than its diameter).

For 226 million years (galactic year), the solar system makes a complete revolution around the center of the galaxy, moving along an almost circular trajectory at a speed of 220 km / s.

Our Sun is part of a huge star system called the Galaxy (also called the Milky Way). Our Galaxy has the shape of a disk, similar to two plates folded at the edges. In its center is the rounded nucleus of the Galaxy.

If you look at our Galaxy from above, it looks like a spiral in which stellar matter is concentrated mainly in its branches, called galactic arms. The arms are located in the plane of the Galaxy disk.

Our Galaxy contains over 100 billion stars. The diameter of the galactic disk is about 30 thousand parsecs (100,000 light years), and the thickness is about 1000 light years.

The stars inside the disk move in circular paths around the center of the Galaxy, just as the planets in the solar system revolve around the sun. The rotation of the Galaxy occurs clockwise when looking at the Galaxy from its north pole (located in the constellation Coma Veronica). The speed of rotation of the disk is not the same at different distances from the center: it decreases with distance from it.

The closer to the center of the Galaxy, the higher the density of stars. If we lived on a planet near a star located near the core of the Galaxy, then dozens of stars would be visible in the sky, comparable in brightness to the Moon.

However, the Sun is very far from the center of the Galaxy, one might say - on its outskirts, at a distance of about 26 thousand light years (8.5 thousand parsecs), near the plane of the galaxy. It is located in the Orion arm, connected to two larger arms - the inner Sagittarius arm and the outer Perseus arm.

The Sun moves at a speed of about 220-250 kilometers per second around the center of the Galaxy and makes a complete revolution around its center, according to various estimates, in 220-250 million years. During its existence, the period of revolution of the Sun together with the surrounding stars near the center of our star system is called the galactic year. But you need to understand that there is no general period for the Galaxy, since it does not rotate like a rigid body. During its existence, the Sun has flown around the Galaxy about 30 times.

The revolution of the Sun around the center of the Galaxy is oscillatory: every 33 million years it crosses the galactic equator, then rises above its plane to an altitude of 230 light years and again descends to the equator.

Interestingly, the Sun makes a complete revolution around the center of the Galaxy in exactly the same time as the spiral arms. As a result, the Sun does not cross regions of active star formation, in which supernovae often break out - sources of radiation destructive for life. That is, it is located in the sector of the Galaxy that is most favorable for the origin and maintenance of life.

The solar system moves through the interstellar medium of our Galaxy much more slowly than previously thought, and no shock wave is formed at its front edge. This was established by astronomers who analyzed the data collected by the IBEX probe, reports RIA Novosti.

“It can be said almost definitely that there is no shock wave in front of the heliosphere (the bubble that limits the solar system from the interstellar medium), and that its interaction with the interstellar medium is much weaker and more dependent on magnetic fields than previously thought,” the scientists write in the article. published in the journal Science.
NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) research spacecraft, launched in June 2008, is designed to explore the boundary of the solar system and interstellar space - the heliosphere, located about 16 billion kilometers from the Sun.

At this distance, the flow of charged particles of the solar wind and the strength of the solar magnetic field weaken so much that they can no longer overcome the pressure of rarefied interstellar matter and ionized gas. As a result, a "bubble" of the heliosphere is formed, filled with the solar wind inside and surrounded by interstellar gas outside.

The Sun's magnetic field deflects the trajectory of charged interstellar particles, but does not in any way affect the neutral atoms of hydrogen, oxygen and helium, which freely penetrate into the central regions of the solar system. The detectors of the IBEX satellite “catch” such neutral atoms. Their study allows astronomers to draw conclusions about the features of the boundary zone of the solar system.

A group of scientists from the United States, Germany, Poland and Russia presented a new analysis of data from the IBEX satellite, according to which the speed of the solar system was lower than previously thought. In this case, as evidenced by new data, a shock wave does not arise in the front part of the heliosphere.

“The sonic boom that occurs when a jet plane breaks the sound barrier can serve as an earthly example for a shockwave. When a plane reaches supersonic speed, the air in front of it cannot get out of its way quickly enough, and the result is a shockwave, ”explains lead author David McComas, quoted in a press release from the Southwest Research Institute. USA).

For about a quarter of a century, scientists believed that the heliosphere was moving through interstellar space at a speed high enough for such a shock wave to form in front of it. However, new data from IBEX showed that the solar system is actually moving through the local cloud of interstellar gas at a speed of 23.25 kilometers per second, which is 3.13 kilometers per second less than previously thought. And this speed is below the limit at which a shock wave occurs.

“Although the shock wave exists in front of the bubbles surrounding many other stars, we have found that the interaction of our Sun with the environment does not reach the threshold at which a shock wave is formed,” McComas said.

Earlier, the IBEX probe was engaged in mapping the boundary of the heliosphere and discovered on the heliosphere a mysterious strip with increased fluxes of energetic particles, which encircled the "bubble" of the heliosphere. Also, with the help of IBEX, it was found that the speed of movement of the solar system over the past 15 years, for inexplicable reasons, has decreased by more than 10%.

The universe is spinning like a whirligig. Astronomers have discovered traces of the rotation of the universe.

Until now, most researchers were inclined to believe that our universe is static. Or if it moves, then a little. Imagine the surprise of a team of scientists from the University of Michigan (USA), led by Professor Michael Longo, when they discovered clear traces of the rotation of our universe in space. It turns out, from the very beginning, even during the Big Bang, when the Universe was just being born, it was already rotating. As if someone launched it like a whirligig. And it is still spinning, spinning.

The research was carried out in the framework of the international project "Digital Sky Survey" (Sloan Digital Sky Survey). And scientists discovered this phenomenon by cataloging the direction of rotation of about 16,000 spiral galaxies from the north pole of the Milky Way. In the beginning, scientists tried to find evidence that the universe has mirror symmetry properties. In this case, they reasoned, the number of galaxies that rotate clockwise, and those that are "twisted" in the opposite direction, would be the same, according to pravda.ru.

But it turned out that counterclockwise rotation prevails among spiral galaxies towards the north pole of the Milky Way, that is, they are oriented to the right. This trend is visible even over 600 million light years away.

The violation of symmetry is small, only about seven percent, but the likelihood that this is such a cosmic accident is somewhere around one million, - said Professor Longo. - Our results are very important, because they seem to contradict the almost universal idea that if we take a sufficiently large scale, the universe will be isotropic, that is, it will not have a pronounced direction.

According to experts, a symmetrical and isotropic universe should have arisen from a spherically symmetric explosion, which was supposed to resemble a basketball in shape. However, if at birth the Universe rotated around its axis in a certain direction, then the galaxies would retain this direction of rotation. But, since they rotate in different directions, therefore, the Big Bang had a versatile direction. Nevertheless, most likely, the universe still continues to rotate.

In general, astrophysicists have previously guessed about the violation of symmetry and isotropy. Their guesses were based on observations of other giant anomalies. These include traces of cosmic strings - incredibly extended space-time defects of zero thickness, hypothetically born in the first moments after the Big Bang. The appearance of "bruises" on the body of the Universe - the so-called imprints from its past collisions with other universes. And also the movement of the "Dark Stream" - a huge stream of galactic clusters rushing at great speed in one direction.