if two objects were to orbit each other? I've been thinking about this lately and can't figure it out in my head. What I end up visualizing always results in an oddly shaped (very elliptical) pattern. If you traced multiple passes it would end up looking like a many-leafed flower petal. Somebody help me out on this one.
imagin a pencil now imagin one end is earth and the other is the sun now imagin the pencil is on a screw closer to the sun now imagin the pencil rotating at the point of the screw what you are witnessing is 2 objects orbiting around their center of gravity
the closer the masses are the more like a circle the orbit; or to put it another way, the closer together the focal points move toward a common center between the two bodies. The larger the difference the closer the larger body orbits around one of the focal points while the smaller follows the elliptical path.
But what I'm getting from this the two objects aren't orbiting each other, but are just rotating on the same axis, no? A circle would seem to be correct. I was watching "Through the Wormhole" last night and there was an experiment where they suspended silicon drops over a pool of water (by vibrating the water) and there were two drops circling each other perfectly. Now that I think about it, it should have been obvious.
2 objects orbit around their center of gravity which is based on their individual masses and their distance
as said, there is a "spot" of gravity, where the fields of gravity from both objects collide at a certain distance from each object depending on their mass (aka depending on the force of gravity each is producing). They both technically orbit that spot, rather than "each other" because in order for them both to actually orbit each other, one has to be the "stationary" spot of gravity, not stationary as in not moving, but stationary as in the other object orbits around it, which makes it impossible for the it to orbit around the other really... they need a spot they both orbit..... which vicariously would mean they "orbit each other" because they orbit the mean gravitational location they are both creating... Its kinda as if they orbit nothing, really.... there isnt really an object they orbit around, they just swoop around each other trapped in a gravity dance
I could learn about this all fucking day. is that why the stars seem to 'twinkle' sometimes??? because being binary
Lol i think the appear to twinkle because of the angle the light hits your eyes. If you think about it, the speed they rotate, isnt like blinking fast.... takes 365 days for us to go around the sun, i would assume binary starts probably block their partners view from earth for long ass periods of time, but they are also a star, so it would still produce light.... but not blinking light haha, i think thats just the eye being confused and atmospheric disturbance
Hehe let alone the light you are seeing is likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years old.... Ive always pondered that.... People argue we should be able to see life, or life see us in space... maybe we are looking right at eachother, only we are seeing the light from the planet so damn long ago it didnt have civilized or any sort of advanced life..... Well i guess we cant really get a clear enough shot of the planets near us we consider liveable, but still, its weird to think, we COULD stare a planet with life right in the face from here and it could have life millions of years a head of what we see lol... shits really trippy
The sun actually does this too. It doesn't have one specific point in the exact center of itself that it orbits around, but more of a circle.
Stars are so weird lol.... they rotate at different speeds depending on how far from the pole you are... They are so intense
i know this sounds dumb as shit, but what if we made a small magnetic field machine and got 2 people to orbit their brains around eachother and reading whats happening in their minds while in orbit hahahaha a little far fetched of an idea, but it sounds interesting. just wonder, if anything would change at all. hmm