Odd question about the solar system...

[Amicale]

OK, I'm sure I'm going to embarass myself by asking this, but hey, an honest question is an honest question, and I don't mind admitting that when it comes to this aspect of science, I'm ignorant. It's a question I've always had, so please stifle your giggles, and if you have an answer, I'd appreciate it. (And you probably will giggle, since this is the sort of question a third grader might ask!) But nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose...

First, a picture:



OK, so of course the planets orbit around the sun, with the sun in the center. My question, then, is if we were to hypothetically be standing on the sun (assume for a moment we could), what is above the sun if you keep on going up? And what's below the sun, if you keep on going down? Since planets revolve around the sun, I'm assuming that if you went far enough above it, or below it, you'd travel through space until you eventually reached another galaxy. Is that correct? Or, are there just asteroids, etc, or simply empty space?

I never took science in school, at least not past 11th grade biology, so... yeah. I've looked at different space websites, but I haven't found much of anything that answers my question.

Please be merciful to a curious, well meaning but ignorant (on this topic anyhow) woman. 

[Whitney]

Imagine that you had a planet on a string and you rotated around in a circle....the planet would move around you in a perpendicular fashion.  Add more strings of planets and, assuming none hit each other, they would do the same.

Only with the sun that string is gravitational force (and some other forces).

This is also why saturn has bands around it and not just a big blob of gasses circling around every which way.

There is no real "above" or "below" the sun....there is no true up or down unless you are speaking in reference to something else.  But to the point of your question; above and below the sun is empty space until you get away from it's gravitational force.

This explains it in more technical terms:  http://paul-a-heckert.suite101.com/why-do-earth-planets-orbit-sun-a42229

Don't' worry, it wasn't a stupid question...most people probably wouldn't even think to ask.

[Sandra Craft]

Don't' worry, it wasn't a stupid question...most people probably wouldn't even think to ask.

I certainly wouldn't have.  When I opened the thread and saw the picture my only thought was "ohhh, pretty!"

[Amicale]

Thanks, Whitney!

And BooksCatsEtc, I love that picture too. I especially love real pictures of nebulas, etc. 

[xSilverPhinx]

You should really study astronomy as an amateur hobby, you don't know what you're missing

[Tank]

The Sun is at the centre of sphere commets and space debris called the Oort Cloud. So if you head out from the Sun in any direction you'll find it.



Our local stars look like this out to 15 light years.



So if you go up or down you'll pass a few stars in the local area, but there are many hundreds of thousands of stars between us and the upper and lower sides of the Milky way. These are the stars like the North Star. The solar system is in a volume of space where stars are relativly sparse (good thing too stars are bloody dangerous things.) Eventually you would leave our galaxy and head off to other galaxies. But you'd have to be quick as they are all moving away from us as the universe is expanding and expanding faster all the time.


This is where the Sun is relative the rest of the Milky way.



I hope that helps.

[Amicale]

Tank! Thank you very much! That's prettymuch what I was looking for! Very cool! 

[pytheas]

This is where the Sun is relative the rest of the Milky way.
.....

I hope that helps.

please please master

do show a couple of parsecs zooming out of frame!
where we stand on our petty yet beautifully exuberant aspiration planet, on a planar and above view with respect to Sagittarius A*, you know, the heart of black

then, I guess, play 3D billiard with a neighbourhood of galaxies proximal to us

and then make that a pin, in the oval /egg impression of the (this?) universe

You got us going Tank, you are molotof-proof

[Asmodean]

Here, have a 4D cube to ponder.



Don't ask why - I have no idea.

[pytheas]

Here, have a 4D cube to ponder.

Is possible if sides are stretchy elastic. the ball corners will have a hard time maintaining physicality.

Does not trip perceptional logic, so not a "koan" graph. but nice, effective pondering.

I'm also off-topic for my expansion request, yes?

plenty of Why's if one cares to look!

[Asmodean]

Here, have a 4D cube to ponder.

Is possible if sides are stretchy elastic. the ball corners will have a hard time maintaining physicality.

Does not trip perceptional logic, so not a "koan" graph. but nice, effective pondering.

I'm also off-topic for my expansion request, yes?

plenty of Why's if one cares to look!

Actually, I think the sides are supposed to be of a fixed length. It's an approximation of four dimensions in the same way 3D might be approximated in Flatland.

[Amicale]

Here, have a 4D cube to ponder.



Don't ask why - I have no idea.

That's fascinating, Asmo. Thanks! I love stuff like that.

[joeactor]

Here's one of my fave videos on the topic of where we are in the universe - Eames' "Powers of Ten"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

[Ali]

Oooh, I loved this thread.  And I agree with Whitney, it's never even crossed my mind to ask what is "below" or "above" the sun.  Thanks for all of the cool info, everyone (and the neat 4 D cube.)

[The Magic Pudding]

I don't think of the sun having an above or a below, same with the earth.  Most globes have me walking upside down, I very rarely do.