First Day of the Year
Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:19 am
First Day of the Year
© Stephen Whiteside 01.01.2012
Here we are again - first day of the year. So the Earth is back where it was this time last year. There's no direction in space, and the surface of the Sun does not have fixed, identifiable features, so we can't say exactly WHERE we are, except that it's the SAME PLACE.
But hang on. The Universe is expanding, right? So that means the sun must be moving. So that means that even though we are in the same place as last year RELATIVE to the sun, our ABSOLUTE position must be different. That's right, isn't it? So how much have we moved compared to last year? Can anybody measure these things?
I tried to Google the speed of the sun some time ago, but I was told the answer can only be calculated in mathematical terms. It is not possible to measure it directly. That's frustrating, but also understandable. After all, GPS relies on satellites circling the Earth, doesn't it. We'd need satellites circling the stars to calculate positions in space. Maybe we will one day. But even then, they would only be able to measure things in relative terms, because the stars are all moving too, but in absolute terms and relative to each other. So what hope is there?
But are movement and position quite the same in this context? Or are they themselves more elastic, like Time?
None of these things would normally matter, and I don't suppose they still do. It's just that I dropped a poem on New Year's Day last year, and I was hoping to pick it up as we swung past the same spot again today.
© Stephen Whiteside 01.01.2012
Here we are again - first day of the year. So the Earth is back where it was this time last year. There's no direction in space, and the surface of the Sun does not have fixed, identifiable features, so we can't say exactly WHERE we are, except that it's the SAME PLACE.
But hang on. The Universe is expanding, right? So that means the sun must be moving. So that means that even though we are in the same place as last year RELATIVE to the sun, our ABSOLUTE position must be different. That's right, isn't it? So how much have we moved compared to last year? Can anybody measure these things?
I tried to Google the speed of the sun some time ago, but I was told the answer can only be calculated in mathematical terms. It is not possible to measure it directly. That's frustrating, but also understandable. After all, GPS relies on satellites circling the Earth, doesn't it. We'd need satellites circling the stars to calculate positions in space. Maybe we will one day. But even then, they would only be able to measure things in relative terms, because the stars are all moving too, but in absolute terms and relative to each other. So what hope is there?
But are movement and position quite the same in this context? Or are they themselves more elastic, like Time?
None of these things would normally matter, and I don't suppose they still do. It's just that I dropped a poem on New Year's Day last year, and I was hoping to pick it up as we swung past the same spot again today.