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  1. #11
    MadMojoMonkey's Avatar
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    WARNING: All links are to wikipedia in this post. I'm lazy today.

    Quote Originally Posted by OngBonga View Post
    If space is literally expanding, then why is the distance from earth to sun not increasing?
    Orbits are elliptical. Whether or not an object is moving toward or away from a local center of mass is going to vary over time.
    Assuming you meant the average orbital distance, well...
    The moon's average orbital distance is increasing at about 1.5 inches per year. This is nothing to do with dark energy.

    Dark energy is (at least for now) a very weak effect, it only manifests as a dominant local energy over ludicrously vast distances. As I said in a prior post, the Milky Way is not affected by dark energy. The Milky Way and Andromeda Local Group is not affected by dark energy. The Virgo Super Cluster of galaxies in which the Milky Way exists is unlikely [citation needed] to be affected by dark energy.

    Dark energy is projected to eventually tear apart the Laniakea Super Cluster, of which the Virgo Super Cluster is a member.
    (I love the "you are here" in Russian on that link. )

    Meaning that the expansion is currently acting on only the largest scale structures in the universe.

    EDIT: If you click those links and actually dwell on the scale of these objects, your mind will 100% be blown. Every step up is another mind blow. We didn't even start with considering the size of the solar system, or even Jupiter. The vastness of it all is beyond words. I run out of words at the first step... then the steps just keep going.

    Diameter of Oort Cloud: ~ 2 light years (ly)
    Diameter of Milky Way: ~100,000 ly
    Diameter of Local Group: ~10,000,000 ly
    Diameter of Virgo Supercluster: ~100,000,000 ly
    Diameter of Laniakea Supercluster: ~500,000,000 ly
    Last edited by MadMojoMonkey; 10-17-2015 at 12:44 PM.

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