Solar System Simulator: Helix

Planets trace a helix as the Sun races around the galaxy. Turn it with a finger.

The solar system diagram you learned is one camera angle. Looking straight down at the orbital plane, the Sun sits still and the planets run in neat circles. Nothing about that drawing is wrong. It simply leaves out where the whole system is heading.The Sun orbits the center of the galaxy at about 230 km/s. One lap takes roughly 230 million years, a span called a galactic year. Trace where a planet has actually been…