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Does the sun rotate?

2 points by pencil ↗ HN
Hi,

I'am damn curious to know if the sun rotate's on it's axis.also is it true that it revolves around the milky-way? if so does it take the entire solar system along with it?what really happens when the entire solar system gets shifted to the other side of our galaxy?

6 comments

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patio11
Yes, or no, depending on your inertial frame of reference. Same answer as "does the sun fly through space faster than a rocket ship?"

The sun isn't taking me with it. I am also rotating around the milky way. I happen to be rather more acted upon by a big rock than either of those relationships, though.

ebneter
Actually, a rotating frame is non-inertial.
patio11
A rotating frame is defined in reference to an inertial frame of reference. Consider a beach ball spinning in my hand. which way is it spinning? If we judge it by comparison to me, it might be spinning, say, clockwise around the axis perpendicular to my hand. I'd we judge it in comparison to the sun, that answer changes.

I still think I'm right here, but welcome attempts to fix my faded memories of physics.

ebneter
The direction of rotation is relative, but the fact that it is rotating is not. That is, an observer in the Sun's reference frame can, indeed, determine that the Sun is rotating. (The Coriolis effect is one example.)
ebneter
1. Yes, in fact it's flattened slightly as a result; its rotation period is ~25 days 2. Yes, with a period of about 240 million years 3. Not much.