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Moon's orbit is usually depicted around the Earth. Even if the choice is arbitrary it's also customary to claim that an object orbits the closest large mass, or
by kaib 17y ago
Moon's orbit is usually depicted around the Earth. Even if the choice is arbitrary it's also customary to claim that an object orbits the closest large mass, or more precisely the object and the large mass orbit the center of mass of the combined system. It is also customary to depict several orbital systems in a single image using multiple frames of reference, the context can usually be deduced even bay laymen.
More generally, your comment is inconsistently heliocentric. Why not pick the center of the Milky Way as the reference for orbit instead.
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y agoI'm not sure if you've simply missed my point, think my point is wrong, or actually disagree. Let me address your points. Of course the Moon's orbit is usually shown as being around the Earth (and more generally, the Earth around the Sun, and other moons around their nearest large mass, etc.) What I'm saying is that they have shown what might be interpreted as the paths of the planets as those beautifully rendered trails. People will interpret them as trails, and when they do so, the "trail" of the Moon is thoroughly misleading. And I'm not being arbitrary, I'm interpreting those lines as trails, and hence your comment about using other points of reference is irrelevant. The Sun in this rendering is not shown as having such a trail, and hence the image shown is heliocentric. And when using this sort of image for laymen, they may correctly take from it that the Moon orbits the Earth, but in my direct personal experience, they then believe that the Moon makes a loopy orbit when seen from a heliocentric point of view. Which is wrong. Hence my comment.