Comments on: The Moon that went up a Hill but came down a planet

By: Tos

Tos — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:10:21 +0000

This discussion is fascinating but in the end this article is about promoting your definition of what it means to “orbit more” a body than another.

In ordinary language we don’t have such a definition. You offer one but I find it premature to state in bold “The Moon orbits the Earth more than it orbits the Sun.”.
Yes, you make a valid point in stating a dynamic defintion of “orbiting more”. But there is also a static definition, ignoring dynamics, just looking at the most general shape of the orbit in a given frame. In front of the same facts, maybe a painter would use the static defintion. The choice of the meaning of words should involve all users, maybe leading to multiple defintions.

In his lectures on N-body motion, astronomer André Brahic made the exact same descriptions but took the opposite conclusion: “The Moon orbits the Sun more than it orbits the Earth”.

By: Lawrence D’Oliveiro

Lawrence D’Oliveiro — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:24:35 +0000

But the Moon and the Earth are both inside the Sun’s Hill sphere, are they not? And the Moon is proportionately deeper inside the Sun’s Hill sphere than it is inside the Earth’s one, is it not?

So what does all this Hill sphere business really prove?

By: Ibrahim

Ibrahim — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:25:44 +0000

Kinda ironic how we are debating something that was mentioned 1400 years ago..
Check this out
http://www.answering-christianity.com/moon_orbit_miracle.htm

By: Carnival of Space: October 2, 2008

Carnival of Space: October 2, 2008 — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:50:30 +0000

[...] – Hills and what they have to do with moons are discussed by the Bad Astronomer over at Bad [...]

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:23:15 +0000

Does the position of the barycenter have anything to do with the precession of the equinoxes?

By: Corscaria

Corscaria — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:23:41 +0000

Sorry Chris, you are wrong. The Earth and Moon both orbit the sun. The Barycenter is an imaginary point in space, at which the Earth and Moon orbiting each other, seem to be centered. They don’t actually orbit this point, it is an imaginary point cause by the equilibrium of thier masses. They Orbit each other, with Earth dominationg, AND they both seperately orbit the sun.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:48:11 +0000

Fail. You have made everyone who has read this article DUMBER through your efforts.

Anyone with a high school physics education will know that neither the Earth nor the moon orbits the sun. The Earth-moon barycenter, the center of mass which sits on a line between the moon and the earth 1700 km beneath the earth’s crust, orbits the sun. The moon and the Earth rotate around this barycenter as it orbits.

By: sina

sina — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:47:43 +0000

man im doing my project about the moon

By: MINI MENTAL

MINI MENTAL — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:40:57 +0000

THE EARTH IS ORBITING THE SUN TO MAKE NIGHT AND DAY ARMSTRONG MUST OF WENNT UP INTO SPACE FOR A LONG TIME TO SEE THAT

By: Science Etcetera, Moonday 20081006 | ideonexus.com

Science Etcetera, Moonday 20081006 | ideonexus.com — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:01:51 +0000

[...] Phil Plait analyzes the logic behind the claim that the Moon orbits the Sun more than the Earth. [...]