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NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne How Stars Stay in the Sky 
Name: Maribelle, Rachel, and Amanda
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1993 - 1999
Question:
How do stars stay in the sky?

Replies:
The stars are all so far away that they don't feel the Earth's gravity, so they can't very well 'fall.' They don't even feel our Sun's gravity, although the planets do of course. The stars stay in the sky because they are orbiting around the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, much like the planets orbit the Sun. The reason that the stars don't change positions in the sky like the planets do is because it takes hundreds of thousands of years for a star to make one orbit, i.e., they do move albeit extremely slowly by human standards.

...and Chicken Little said, "never mind."

Hawley


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