Er, the sun orbits the center of mass of the solar system, doesn’t it?
EDIT: I just now realized the question about orbits is not “how do these bodies travel through space?” but “why does the sun move across the sky?”, and that makes everything make more sense.
Well, the center of mass of the solar system is close enough to the center of the sun that within the frame of reference of the solar system it can reasonably be said to be staying put.
Sort of. You still need to explain the Sun moving along the eliptic- Ptolemaic astronomy that is done by having the Sun rotate around the Earth just a little slower than the stellar sphere rotates around the Earth. On occasion there were even a few people who hypothesized the Earth rotating to explain diurnal motion but kept the planets orbiting around the Earth. But reasons involving the mixed up internal logic of Aristotelian physics having the Earth move at all weakened the impulse to keep the Earth at the center.
(The answer to “Is the Sun orbiting Earth?” is “No, the Earth is spinning, and the Sun stays put,” not “No, the Earth orbits the Sun.”)
Er, the sun orbits the center of mass of the solar system, doesn’t it?
EDIT: I just now realized the question about orbits is not “how do these bodies travel through space?” but “why does the sun move across the sky?”, and that makes everything make more sense.
Well, the center of mass of the solar system is close enough to the center of the sun that within the frame of reference of the solar system it can reasonably be said to be staying put.
Fixed, I hope.
I agree with what Jack said, in theory, but take your point in terms of the clarity of my writing.
Sort of. You still need to explain the Sun moving along the eliptic- Ptolemaic astronomy that is done by having the Sun rotate around the Earth just a little slower than the stellar sphere rotates around the Earth. On occasion there were even a few people who hypothesized the Earth rotating to explain diurnal motion but kept the planets orbiting around the Earth. But reasons involving the mixed up internal logic of Aristotelian physics having the Earth move at all weakened the impulse to keep the Earth at the center.
Here is an interesting related video.