# How far has the earth traveled since May 13, 1954? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167 "2008-05-13T16:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/1 "2008-05-13T16:19:31Z")
Yes, I know we’ve gone around the sun 54 times. I’m looking for _linear_(?) distance as opposed to _orbital_ distance. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/2 "2008-05-13T16:21:20Z")
In relation to what? Without that, the question is meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/3 "2008-05-13T16:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] In relation to what? Without that, the question is meaningless. [/QUOTE] How about in relation to the location of the point of intersection defined by three extra-galactic markers on May 13, 1954, and the location of a point created by those three markers today? ETA: Or, what if you used those same three markers to establish a point every hour since May 13, 1954, then added the distance, in order, from point-to-point. What would the total be? ETA(2): Happy birthday **blondebear**! ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/4 "2008-05-13T16:28:09Z")
So you mean the circumference of the eclipse? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/5 "2008-05-13T16:31:46Z")
[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl] How about in relation to the location of the point of intersection defined by three extra-galactic markers on May 13, 1954, and the location of a point created by those three markers today? [/QUOTE] Which 3? It matters. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/6 "2008-05-13T16:34:09Z")
Orbit: 149,597,887.5 X 3.14159 X 54 = 25,378,662,258 km. [Relative to microwave background:](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960205.html) 600 km/sec X 54 years = 1,022,444,402,400 km. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/7 "2008-05-13T16:34:28Z")
According to [this](http://calgary.rasc.ca/howfast.htm), as the sun orbits around the home galaxy, it travels at 719,000 km/hr or 447,000 mi/hr. Assuming that the Earth is traveling along with the sun…I will let someone else do the math to calculate how many hours have elapsed since May 13, 1954, and then calculate how many kilometers or miles the sun has traveled around the galaxy since then, because for me the whole exercise is too uncomfortably reminiscent of those story problems they give you in Fourth Grade math, and it was my understanding that once I graduated from high school, I would never, ever have to do those again. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/8 "2008-05-13T16:53:01Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Which 3? It matters. [/QUOTE] Really? Wow – and I thought I was being clever by locating them outside the galaxy. That is, I would have thought that the relative change in positions of three markers outside of the galaxy would have been so insignificantly small over the past fifty years as to make the choice of which three irrelevant. How/where did I go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/9 "2008-05-13T17:11:25Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] In relation to what? Without that, the question is meaningless. [/QUOTE] :dubious: Do you have an absolute frame of reference for “meaningfulness”? I think that the OP is looking for 54 times the circumference of the earth’s orbit (as calculated by **Squint** ’s answer – the ellipse’s eccentricity is probably irrelevant in this case), with just a few significant digits. 25 billion kilometers. 16 billion miles. Probably using it in some birthday wish. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/10 "2008-05-13T17:17:46Z")
[QUOTE=Duhkecco] :dubious: Do you have an absolute frame of reference for “meaningfulness”? I think that the OP is looking for 54 times the circumference of the earth’s orbit (as calculated by **Squint** ’s answer – the ellipse’s eccentricity is probably irrelevant in this case), with just a few significant digits. 25 billion kilometers. 16 billion miles. Probably using it in some birthday wish. [/QUOTE] With respect I don’t think the OP is looking for just that at all. The earth has orbited the sun 54 times, yes, but the sun has also been rotating in the plane of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way has been doing whatever it does into the bargain. Plus of course, the OP, on the surface of the Earth, has been whirling round and round a distance of about {24,900 x cos(OP’s latitude)} miles every 24 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/11 "2008-05-13T17:39:14Z")
So would it be a sum of: Earth’s daily rotation Earth’s path around the sun Earth’s wobble Sun’s movement within the arm of the galaxy Movement of the galaxy’s arm Movement of the galaxy as a whole Expansion of space Expansion of time We control the horizontal … ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/12 "2008-05-13T17:41:25Z")
[QUOTE=Duhkecco] I think that the OP is looking for 54 times the circumference of the earth’s orbit (as calculated by **Squint** ’s answer – the ellipse’s eccentricity is probably irrelevant in this case), with just a few significant digits. 25 billion kilometers. 16 billion miles. Probably using it in some birthday wish. [/QUOTE] He says he’s _not_ looking for orbital distance, which as I understand it, would be 54 times the circumference of the earth’s orbit. I’m sure the OP can look up the figures and do the math him/herself. The universe doesn’t have a center from which one can measure this distance, right? So the answer will change depending on your frame of reference. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/13 "2008-05-13T17:44:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving > And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, > That’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned, > A sun that is the source of all our power. > The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see > Are moving at a million miles a day > In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, > > \ > > We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point. > We go 'round every two hundred million years… Happy to help. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/14 "2008-05-13T18:53:29Z")
[QUOTE=Duhkecco] :dubious: Do you have an absolute frame of reference for “meaningfulness”? [/QUOTE] When it comes to motion, there isn’t one (see Einstein, et al.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/15 "2008-05-13T19:25:11Z")
> [@](#): > > for me the whole exercise is too uncomfortably reminiscent of those story problems they give you in Fourth Grade math, and it was my understanding that once I graduated from high school, I would never, ever have to do those again. Life is a story problem. ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/16 "2008-05-13T19:52:04Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] When it comes to motion, there isn’t one (see Einstein, et al.) [/QUOTE] Actually, the specific words I used, “absolute frame of reference”, suggested a rough analogy with relativity: Is there such a thing as “absolute meaninglessness”, or is it “relative”? IOW, the OP’s question has \*some \* meaning even without specifying “in relation to what”. The meaning is whatever I can extract from the message, given the info provided. I agree that “linear(?) distance” suggests something other that the distance around the sun, and that my interpretation was forced. And, I came up with an interpretation of “orbital distance” meaning “distance around the orbit” rather than distance from the Sun to the Earth’s orbit. Yeah, it’s difficult to support that interpretation, but, given some of the questions that I’ve seen in General Questions, it’s possible that the interpretation is right. Not likely, perhaps, but possible. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m sure the OP can look up the figures and do the math him/herself. I Googled “Earth’s speed” and got this from the first hit: > [@](#): > > It takes our Sun 225 million years to make one trip around the galaxy. > **[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](https://www.aol.com/)** > > Discover the latest breaking news in the U.S. and around the world — politics, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, sports and much more. That web page offers the simplistic conclusion that the Sun and the Earth travel 4,269,219,733 miles in one year. The OP could have looked up this figure and multiplied it by 54. Perhaps he knows that the Sun and Earth orbit the Galaxy’s center and that’s why he said “linear(?)” rather than just “linear”. Or, perhaps he’s looking for something else. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/17 "2008-05-13T20:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Life is a story problem. [/QUOTE] Yes, but one in which there are no correct or incorrect answers, only “best guesses”. And you never have to show your work. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/18 "2008-05-13T21:44:19Z")
[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl] Really? Wow – and I thought I was being clever by locating them outside the galaxy. That is, I would have thought that the relative change in positions of three markers outside of the galaxy would have been so insignificantly small over the past fifty years as to make the choice of which three irrelevant. How/where did I go wrong? [/QUOTE] Generally, the further something is from us, the faster it’s moving in relation to us. So, picking three relatively close galaxies as markers would give you one number; picking three further away markers would give you a larger number. This is because the universe is expanding. In fact, this correlation is used (among other things) to determine how far away extra-galactic objects are in the first place. The red shift of light can be measured, and helps determine the distance to the object emitting the light. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/19 "2008-05-13T22:02:09Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] With respect I don’t think the OP is looking for just that at all. The earth has orbited the sun 54 times, yes, but the sun has also been rotating in the plane of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way has been doing whatever it does into the bargain. [/QUOTE] Factor in [galactic motion](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/PatriciaKong.shtml) (relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background) of roughly 600 km/s toward a mysterious object called the Great Attractor in the direction of constellation Hydra, and you’ll wish that you marked your parking space before you left in the morning. As **Q.E.D.** notes, there isn’t really a fixed reference point to measure distance from. You could measure pathlength through three dimensions from some arbitrary inertial reference frame, but where that frame is and its relative motion is going to influence the result. [QUOTE=Chronos] Life is a story problem. [/QUOTE] I think mine was written by Joseph Heller. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167/20 "2008-05-13T22:20:45Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Factor in [galactic motion](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/PatriciaKong.shtml) (relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background) of roughly 600 km/s toward a mysterious object called the Great Attractor in the direction of constellation Hydra… [/QUOTE] See post#6. That’s 1,022,444,402,400 km in 54 years, which buggers the mere 230 billion due to our orbit around the galactic center. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-has-the-earth-traveled-since-may-13-1954/449167.md?page=2)