can there be....

[thugfella]

since gravity is holdin the earth up...do you guys think there can be a planet above or under earth ...maybe a light year down or a light year up..because i thought that when scientist are lookin at space they just look straight up... itd be weird if there was a planet right ontop of the earth and the exact place couple light years up...always been wonderin whats way above or way ontop of the earth in outer space

 

[vogon13]

A light year down? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[nevers]

From our vantage point here on Earth, the center of our Galaxy is towards the constellation of Sagittarius. You can work out the rest from there...once outside the Milky Way, whose to say which is up, down, left or right. It's all in relation to the perspective of the observer.<br /><br />Our "up" would be towards Ursa Minor. There is a Galaxy called NGC 3172 or Polarissima Borealis: it is the most Northerly Galaxy. Maybe what your looking for is there?

 

[alpha_taur1]

But everyone knows that the Earth is on the back of a giant star turtle supported by four elephants!<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[nexium]

It is not correct to say gravity is holding the Earth UP. The gravity of the Sun keeps the Earth from flying out of the solar system. Centrfugle force (due to Earth making one trip around the Sun per year) keeps the Earth from plunging into the Sun. Close to Earth's surface (or close to another body) down is toward the center. Elsewhere down has no real meaning, but we can pick directions to call up and down for conveniece. We can see quite well for hundreds of light years in all directions from Earth, so unknown bodies that position Earth gravitationally significant are very unlikely. Neil

 

[darthsnader]

Our Earths down would be toward the Sun, since were constanly falling/spinning around it. (An orbit.)<br /><br />Unless you want to think our down is the center of our milkyway galaxey. Which our little solar system is falling/spinning around. In which case figuring out earth up and down makes my head hurt.<br /><br />

 

[Saiph]

as nexium was saying, "down" is completely arbitrary when describing things.<br /><br />You have to define it really. Down, for most people, is defined as towards the center of the earth.<br /><br />I could very well define it in any other direction, the math and answers for a physics question come out the exact same. To see some idea of why this is, imagine someone throws a ball in front of you. You look at where it lands, and how it moved. It went from your left, to your right.<br /><br /><br />Now, say you were on the other side, or someone else was. They'd have seen the ball move from their right, to their left. However, how the ball moved and where it landed are the exact same for them. <br /><br />That holds for any place you wish to view it from. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>do you guys think there can be a planet above or under earth ...maybe a light year down or a light year up..because i thought that when scientist are lookin at space they just look straight up... itd be weird if there was a planet right ontop of the earth and the exact place couple light years up...always been wonderin whats way above or way ontop of the earth in outer space<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Yep, there can be planets where we can't see them -- and stars too! In fact, when astronomers talk of the "missing mass" of the universe, they're talking not about some exotic weird matter, but simply about matter that they can't see. "Dark matter" is matter that isn't shining any light on Earth. This may be simply because there's a big huge dust cloud in the way.....<br /><br />There isn't really an "up" in space. "Up" is a relative term. For you and me, it's stuff that's above our heads when we're standing. But if I'm in the United States and you're in Australia, that's a completely different part of the sky. In fact, my "up" is your "down", and vice versa. Weird, huh? But true. We think of "up" as being the opposite of the direction that gravity is pulling us, because we can sense that constant force with the organs of balance in our middle ears, the semicircular canals.<br /><br />Astronomers can observe any part of the sky that has nothing between it and the telescope. So if an astronomer has a 20" Dobsonian telescope and takes it out in the middle of the Arizona desert, he or she can anything except for the stuff hidden by the Earth itself. That is, everything above him or her. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> But if he or she then flies to an observatory high up in the Chilean Andes, he or she can see completely different stuff just by moving around the Earth. And of course if that astronomer then books time on the Hubble Space Telescope, he or she can arrange to see almost any part of the <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

No actually the world is a disk supported by four elephants, which in turn stand on the back of a monstrous astrochelonian (turtle) named A'tuin the Great. The tiny Sun and Moon both orbit the world; one of the elephants has to lift his leg each time they go past. A'tuin stands on nothing; it is swimming through space to some far-distant destination.<br /><br />It is vitally important, however, that we learn A'tuin's sex. After all, if he/she meets another astrochelonian, it could have profound ramifications for everything on his/her back. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[newtonian]

Calli - Remember- North is up!