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Old 06-25-2008, 03:47 AM
Rob
 
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Default How many different directions in space am I travelling in?

Sitting on my sofa at home... How many different directions would I be moving in, relative to the nearest galaxy?

And what kind of speeds are we traveling at?

Thanks... :)
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Old 06-25-2008, 04:06 AM
campbelp2002
 
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One. That one direction of travel may be the net result of many different velocities superimposed, and it may change all the time, but in the end you can only go in one direction at one time.

But I may be getting overly technical and you want to know that you are riding the Earth that is rotating at 1,000 MPH (at the equator, maybe half that at mid latitudes) while it orbits the sun at 66,000 MPH, while the Sun orbits the galaxy at about 500,000 MPH while the galaxy moves with respect to other galaxies at some speed that would depend on which other galaxy you want to call the one that isn't moving. I like to call our galaxy the one that isn't moving so we can end it there.
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Old 06-25-2008, 04:14 AM
warburger
 
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You can only move in one direction at anytime. The motion of the Earth and the galaxy would have a singular resultant direction for you. Even if you were riding a moving vehicle, you would still move in one direction.

That direction would solely depend on the observer's frame of reference. It may not be absolute, but point is, you can only move in one direction at a time.
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Old 06-25-2008, 04:17 AM
usbiker133t
 
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If you split the universe into a tri-axis cartesian cube, your direction of travel is a vectored sum of your velocities along each of the three axis. But that is only for math purposes. You are only taveling in one direction relative to anything.
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Old 06-25-2008, 04:29 AM
lindajune
 
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By defining "relative to the nearest galaxy", I will assume you mean Andromeda (the nearest large spiral galaxy), not one of our satellite galaxies.
If we isolate your motion into separate vectors, there are 3:
1. The Earth is rotating at 465 m/sec - this is counter-clockwise (looking down over the north pole)
2. The Earth is orbiting the sun at an average of 29,783 m/sec (again, counter-clockwise)
3. The sun is orbiting the galactic centre at 220,000 m/sec (this motion is in the direction of the star Vega in the constellation Lyra, which is away from constellation Andromeda and the Andromeda Galaxy)
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Old 06-25-2008, 05:14 AM
sandmanboys
 
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The earth is rotating on it's axis also with a slight wobble. The earth is moving in orbit around the sun. The solar system is rotating around the galaxy. The galaxy is moving in relation to it's local group the local group is moving in relation to other galaxies etc.etc. How many did I leave out? Or, according to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity you might be completely at rest and all these other movements are taking place around you. Oh I forgot you might be moving in relation to the surface of the planet ie walking flying or driving.
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