Where am I

[Ed Stauffer]

Where are we?
Where did we come from?
Where are we going?

At the fall equinox if you look at the sun at noon it will be between you and the core of the galaxy and behind it the great attractor which is where our galaxy is headed at 627 km/ sec
If you put the sun to your left you will see where we came from as we orbit the sun at 210 km/sec
If you put the sun to your right you will see where we are going as we orbit the galaxy at 368 km/sec

If I am wrong on any of these please feel free to correct me, as I had to collect bits from here and there to answer these questions.

 

[rod]

Where are we?
Where did we come from?
Where are we going?

Some interesting questions asked.

"Where are we?", I would say here on planet Earth. However, this question when using astrometry and the Galactic Year for the Sun, changes. Astrometry looks at star positions, motions, and magnitudes. Where were we when the Sun was born? Where are we now? It seems to answer definitely we would need a series of astrometric measurements for the stars nearby the Sun some 4.5 billion years ago and show all the changes that took place since then

"Where did we come from?" Using the BB model with inflation epoch, everything in our universe arose from the inflaton field and later a hot, cosmic fireball that cooled to make the Sun and Earth. Abiogenesis takes over and converts non-living matter into biological life that over 4 billion years or more, turns into people

"Where are we going?", good question. Some of this may be answered using astrometry concerning the Sun's current position in the Milky Way and star position changes. The question could also be seen as asking for a prophecy for the future too.

 

[Ed Stauffer]

I am sitting on my couch typing, seemingly at rest yet I am on the surface of the earth which is traveling at 0.5 km/sec. The galaxy is rotating clockwise and the earth counter clockwise around the sun so in the fall we down to 158 km/sec. Next spring we will max out at 578 km/sec along that vector. The whole time we are moving sideways at 627 km/sec. Just had a sip of coffee and didn’t spill a drop although that isn’t always the case either.
While all of these numbers seem pretty wild I found that understanding them really helped with my galactic/ intergalactic perspective.