Ask A Scientist© Astronomy Archive

>
> >   name        emily
> >   status      student
> >   age         9
>
> >   Question -    Why does the moon rotate around the earth? Why doesn't the
>
> > earth rotate around the moon? Wouldn't it get the same results?
>
>Both the earth and the moon rotate around the center of mass of the
>earth-moon system.  This is located inside the earth, because the earth is
>so much more massive than the moon.
Barrans
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>Emily,
>
>In your science class you probably learned that the earth revolves around
>the sun. That is because the sun is much larger and we are held in place
>through attraction to the sun. In the same way, the moon is much smaller
>than the earth. The moon is held in place due to the gravitational pull of
>the earth. Another way to say this is that the moon is not mass ive enough
>to make the earth rotate around it, the opposite is true.
>
>Your question is similar to asking why a dogs tail does not wag the dog.
>You know, of course, that the dog wags the tail. :)
>
>
>         Thanks for using NEWTON!!
>
>         Ric Rupnik----------
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>The Earth and the moon orbit each other. More precisely, they both
>orbit the center of mass of the earth-moon system. Since the earth is
>much more massive than the moon, the center of mass is much nearer the
>earth.
>
>Tim Mooney

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>The moon seems to rotate about us, because we are the ones doing the looking.
>if you were standing on the moon, yes it would seem like the earth is rotating
>about the moon. But if you were standing somewhere else, say on the sun, it
>would seem like both the earth AND the moon are rotating around the sun, and
>also more or less around each other, like two people doing a dance, holding on
>to each other, while they both danced around the entire dance floor.

S. Ross

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