From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Fri Aug 31 2001 - 11:24:25 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> > A properly unbiased frame of reference would consider the center of
> > orbital rotation, the point both the sun and its planet rotate about. Lo
> > and behold, because the sun is so much more massive than any other
> > planet, the center of rotation is only a few meters from the center of
> > the sun.
>
> Not a few meters: more like about 500,000. (Mass of sun: 2x10^30kg,
> mass of Jupiter: 2x10^27, a ratio of 1000 to 1. But the distance
> between the sun and Jupiter, 5.2 AU, is around 500,000,000 miles.)
> So the center of revolution isn't really inside the sun (diameter
> 867,000 miles), but lies outside it many thousands of miles.
By my calculation, 500,000 meters is 500 km, which is still inside the
sun.
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