When something is "in orbit", it experiences centripetal force. The centripetal force is provided by gravity, in which case whenever anything is "in orbit", it is "falling".

The sun is orbitting around the center of the galaxy, but not all things orbit the center of the galaxy. Our planets orbit around the sun, not the center of the galaxy. Why? They are in immediate proximity to the sun, whereas the galaxy is far away.

You may ask yourself, "if the galactic core is strong enough to pull the Sun in to an orbit, why aren't the planets affected?". Well like I said, our planets are closer to the Sun than the galactic core.

Here's how much force the galactic core exerts on the Sun:

F = m * a = G * ( M / r^2 ); F is force, m is the mass of the Sun, a is acceleration due to gravity, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the galactic core, and r is the distance from the core to the Sun

F ~ ( 1.99 x 10^30 kg)( 6.67 x 10^-11 N * ( m / kg )^2 )( 7.36 x 10^30 kg )/[( 2.5 × 10^20 m )^2]
F ~ 1.563 x 10^10 N

Seems like a lot, doesn't it? Well, it is. But compare that with the force on Earth, for example, from the Sun:

F = m * a = G * ( M / r^2 ); F is force, m is the mass of the Earth, a is acceleration due to gravity, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of our Sun, and r is the distance from the Sun to Earth

F ~ ( 5.97 x 10^24 kg)( 6.67 x 10^-11 N * ( m / kg )^2 )( 1.99 × 10^30 kg )/[( 1.496 × 10^11 m )^2]
F ~ 3.54 x 10^22 N

As you can see, the force from the Sun is much more powerful on the Earth, then say, the galactic core on the Earth (even though I calculated the force from the Sun to the Galactic core, the trivial distance will result in an answer of the same magnitude).

The Sun and other stars are orbitting the Galactic core (which is just a bunch of stars, but I heard there was a black hole somewhere). The planets are orbitting the stars, and indirectly orbitting the Galactic core. However, the planets are "falling" towars the Sun, not the Galactic core. Any object within a star's solar system will fall towards the Sun, not the Galatic core. It is not impossible, however, to not be "falling" at all; that point is called a Lagrange point.

So yes, even though the Sun is in orbit around the Galactic core, it doesn't mean objects in every point of space is affeceted.

brain hurts....

Actually, there is theorized to be a network of blackholes at are galactic core, all whipping around and orbiting eachother at super fast speeds. Ironically I always thought as a kid that there had to be tons of life and stuff we might find at the galactic core, but I was reading that the closer you get to the galactic core, the more dangerous things get. There is so much gamma radition there that it's impossible for life to exist (or should I say, at least life as we know it).
I'm just a big fan of astronomical theory and figured i'd jump in the conversation.

another 11:30 post. sorry
I meant escape velocity. but anyone would know that.

but space is not one collosal orbit, therefore while there are regions with "down" as we define it, space does not have "downs" in all places.

I said space, I thought the general meaning would be implied, guess I overestimated.

or perhaps people should just stop assuming he meant "filled" space. its the rarest kind after all.

@SSN And also the only one where you would define "falling" in space.

But I wasn't answering the original post with the sentence you two decided to pick an argument over. Emperor asked a question, and I answered it trying to be helpful. And instead, you two decided to insult me.

Here, since you two seem to have such a hard time handling a sentence that doesn't completely state the obvious, let me give you one.

Down would be towards whatever your orbiting, if your orbiting something, not in the dead of space but still outside of an atmosphere.

Supplying arms to a country at war is just as effective as fighting the war alongside that country. So when I leave the obvious parts of my posts out to save space, you then make a response assuming I didn't even know the obvious parts. I find that just as insulting to my intelligence as emperor flat out saying I can't see the obvious points in my own post (not in so many words though). But then again, sometimes I take things to literally or too seriously, probably like this thread. So my apologies to you schem if you truly weren't trying to be insulting.

I could give you some



Jeesh dude, calm down.

I didnt try to insult you, more a fun poke than anything.

You have to get used to provocation on this forum.

Great, its good to see that we have come to some kind of middle ground.