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Why do рlаnetѕ orbіt the Sun?

The fundamental reason that planets move in orbits or revolve around the Sun is due to the Sun’s gravitational force “keeping” the planets in their orbits. Just as the Moon orbits Earth due to Earth’s gravitational attraction, Earth orbits the Sun due to the Sun’s gravitational pull.

So why do planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits instead of being pulled straight into the Sun? This is because Earth has a velocity perpendicular to the Sun’s gravitational pull. Without the Sun, Earth would move in a straight line. The Sun’s gravity changes Earth’s motion direction, causing Earth to move around the Sun in an almost circular orbit. This might be a bit challenging to visualize, so you can think of an illustrative example of an object orbiting around Earth. It’s similar to what happens between Earth and the Sun.



Imagine Superman standing on Mount Everest, holding a ball, and throwing it as hard as he can. Since he’s Superman, the throw is extremely powerful. Normally, when you throw a ball, it eventually falls and touches the ground. But because Superman threw it so hard, the ball flies above the horizon before falling. And due to Earth’s curvature, the ball just keeps “falling,” but never touches the ground. Instead, it flies around and hits Superman’s back. Of course, this doesn’t hurt him because he’s Superman. That’s how orbits form. Objects like spacecraft or the Moon are much farther from Earth than the ball Superman threw (compared to Earth).

In the example above, we disregard the air resistance affecting the ball. In reality, spacecraft need to reach an altitude well above Earth’s atmosphere to avoid air resistance; otherwise, air resistance would cause the spacecraft to spiral down and eventually crash onto Earth’s surface. Earth’s orbit around the Sun occurs similarly to the example, except now, if Superman stood on the Sun (which could happen because he’s Superman) and the “ball” he threw was Earth.