Is the Orion Arm our permanent home?

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Westwind
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Is the Orion Arm our permanent home?

Post by Westwind » Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:57 pm

In one of the topics below, the author mentioned that the solar system is in--or moving into--the Orion Arm of our galaxy.

I thought our solar system occupied a relatively fixed position in the Orion Arm, and that the arm itself rotated around the core of our galaxy carrying the Sun and other stars along with it.

Is our solar system, however, moving independently through the Orion Arm, and at some point will move out of it into another arm of the galaxy?

--Bill

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neufer
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Re: Is the Orion Arm our permanent home?

Post by neufer » Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:54 pm

Westwind wrote:In one of the topics below, the author mentioned that the solar system is in--or moving into--the Orion Arm of our galaxy.

I thought our solar system occupied a relatively fixed position in the Orion Arm, and that the arm itself rotated around the core of our galaxy carrying the Sun and other stars along with it.

Is our solar system, however, moving independently through the Orion Arm, and at some point will move out of it into another arm of the galaxy?
  • The arms are density waves that move at their own pace
    (or sometimes not at all) as stars orbit in elliptical paths:
    • Image
Art Neuendorffer

Westwind
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Re: Is the Orion Arm our permanent home?

Post by Westwind » Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:12 am

Thanks, Art. Learned something new.

--Bill

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