Moving Around the Sun
The earth does more than just spin. As it spins, it moves through space.
The earth travels through space around the sun at a speed of about 107,200 kilometres an hour. But it isn’t moving in a straight line. Instead, it whirls around the sun in a large, almost perfect circle. This path the earth takes around the sun is called an orbit.
What keeps the earth moving around the sun? Why doesn’t it move all over space?
Everything in space pulls at everything else. This pull is called gravity. The bigger a thing is, the stronger its pull. The sun is more than a million times bigger than the earth, so it tugs hard at the earth. It is this strong tug that keeps the earth in orbit.
The time it takes the earth to go all the way around the sun is a little more than 365 days. This is what we call a year.
Picture Credit : Google
