DeepSummary
In this episode, listener Adia from La Crescent, Minnesota asks why the sun stays in one place and can't move around like Earth. Brittany Kamai, an astrophysicist, explains that the sun is indeed moving, but so slowly that we don't notice it on Earth. The sun is orbiting around the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, just like Earth orbits around the sun.
The movement of the sun is imperceptible to us because it takes an incredibly long time to complete one orbit around the galactic center. While we see other planets moving relative to Earth, early astronomers were able to deduce that all planets, including Earth, revolve around the sun, which itself is moving around the center of the galaxy.
Kamai emphasizes that the sun's motion is so gradual that it's okay for it to go at its own pace, given its immense age of 4.5 billion years. The episode concludes with a promotion for the Brains On podcast and an invitation for listeners to submit their own questions.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The sun is not stationary but rather orbiting around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
- The sun's motion is so slow that it is imperceptible to us on Earth.
- All planets, including Earth, orbit around the sun, which itself is orbiting the galactic center.
- Early astronomers deduced that planets revolve around the sun by observing their relative motions.
- The sun's gradual pace can be appreciated given its immense age of 4.5 billion years.
- Listeners are encouraged to submit their own questions to the podcast.
- The episode promotes the Brains On podcast, which explores imaginative topics.
- Sponsor and promotional messages are excluded from the key takeaways.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The thing is, it's hard for us to sense how much the sun is actually moving.“ by Brittany Kamai
- “The sun is in the center of it, and we're all going around it the same way in a racetrack. Then all the cars go around the same center.“ by Brittany Kamai
- “And then you start to see that they're all orbiting around something in the middle. And when you start to work out the path the stars are taking, you find out there's a super massive black hole.“ by Brittany Kamai
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Episode Information
Moment of Um
American Public Media
5/21/24
Earth is always moving around the sun, but does the sun move too? Or is it fixed in one place in the cosmos? In this episode, we talk to astrophysicist Brittany Kamai to get to the heart of this issue!
Do you have a Moment of Um question that’s burning in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help shine a light on the answer.