6 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: What was this object
Lol. That is an interesting point of view, though. The Earth obviously has more mass than the moon, but technically the Earth and Moon orbit around a common point called the barycenter. I don't remember where the barycenter is, I think it's close to or inside the Earth, but that does make your question an interesting one! I think we say the moon orbits the Earth because it's the larger of the two masses, but since there is a common center of mass around which both bodies orbit, could a case be made that the Earth orbits around the moon? I think no, but it is a good and interesting question!
Comment by Spaceinpigs at 03/07/2024 at 16:01 UTC
17 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The barycenter of the Earth and Moon is 5000km (3100 miles) from the center of the earth, or when the moon is directly overhead, about 1700km (1050 miles) beneath your feet.
In the Pluto Charon system, Pluto and Charon orbit a point between them both. It’s not located inside either object which technically makes them a binary system instead of object/moon.
Comment by Akira_R at 03/07/2024 at 15:56 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The earth-moon barycenter is very much within the earth, it's about 4,600km offset from the center of the earth