3 ms·
(Edited to correct/clarify) Out of curiosity, what is the galactic centripetal acceleration for the Milky Way that the Solar System is experiencing?
by mehrdadn 7y ago
(Edited to correct/clarify)
Out of curiosity, what is the galactic centripetal acceleration for the Milky Way that the Solar System is experiencing?
- phkahler 7y agoCan you clarify the question? Big G is a constant everywhere. I can't think of an equivalent for little g (9 81). If you chose to define something it would depend where you are.
- mehrdadn 7y agoI meant the galactic centripetal acceleration we're experiencing (which I saw as the analog of little g, but I guess it isn't really); sorry if that was confusing.
- bdamm 7y agoAs experienced on earth, as in during the day vs during the night? (I don’t know which side is facing galactic center but I’m sure it’s almost half the day one way and almost half the day the other way.)
- mehrdadn 7y agoI'd want it to be invariant to the time of day, so I guess as experienced by Earth's center? Or the sun's center. Just wanted a vague ballpark number, which someone already mentioned.
- lmilcin 7y agoYou can calculate it from the orbital speed and distance to the center of Galaxy. It comes to something like 2*10^-11 g
- mehrdadn 7y agoYeah I didn't have a chance when I posted the question, thanks! But wow that's small!
- namirez 7y agoIt's not easy to define a gravitational acceleration for the milky way since for planets it's defined on the surface and the milky way has no clear boundary per se. That said, the escape velocity of our galaxy is 537 km/s; almost 50 times that of the earth. Most of it is due to dark matter. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24249-stars-escape-velocity-shows-how-to-exit-the-milky-way/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24249-stars-escape-ve...
- mehrdadn 7y agoThanks! I worded the question poorly but this is also a cool number to know.