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The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 25,000 miles. The Earth rotates in about 24 hours. Therefore, if you were to hang above the surface of the Earth at the equator without moving, you would see 25,000 miles pass by in 24 hours, at a speed of 25000/24 or just over 1000 miles per hour.
Multiply by cosine of your latitude to see how fast the Earth is rotating where you are. Earth is also moving around the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour. |
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19 Miles / Second
You can calculate this yourself if you wish... While the Earth's orbit is not a circle, on average, its distance from the Sun is 93,000,000 Miles. Assuming for the sake of argument that it was a circle, that distance would be "R" in geometry or the Radius, and the circumference of the orbital path would be 2PiR in length...so multiply 2Pi X 93,000,000. Then divide that by 365 1/4 Days = Miles per day speed. then divide that by 24 = Miles per hour speed then divide that by 60 = Miles per minute speed and finally divide that by 60 again = Miles per second speed |
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Since Earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical and not perfectly circular, its speed varies slightly depending on where it's located in that orbit. The *mean* velocity of Earth around the sun is 30 km/sec, or 67,108 mph
Here are some other speeds you might find interesting -- Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 250 km/sec, or 560,000 mph Relative to the cosmic microwave background radiation, the sun is moving in the general direction of the Cup constellation at about 1.3 km/hr, or 80,7782 mph Our solar system is moving slowly towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy at 10 ^ minus 10 meters/second The Milky Way galaxy rotates at about 220 km/sec, or 450,000 mph The local cluster of galaxies that the Milky Way belongs to is moving towards a distant super cluster of galaxies at 600 km/sec, or 1.3-million mph |
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