The Moon's Orbit is WEIRD
minutephysics4 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2024–2026
explainer · general · evergreen · 2024–2026 on HN
A minutephysics explainer showing that the Moon's path around the Sun is not a spiral but closer to a 12-sided polygon with curved corners. It argues the Moon arguably orbits the Sun rather than the Earth.
HN links it whenever the Moon's orbit comes up, as a concise explanation of why the Moon always curves toward the Sun.
Up next
5 mo on HNHow Far Are The Nearest Stars?
Cody'sLab
3 HN recommender · 2019–2025
2 mo on HNTerence Tao on the cosmic distance ladder
3Blue1Brown
2 HN recommender · 2025–2026
5 mo on HNWhy can't you multiply vectors?
Freya Holmér
9 HN recommender · 2023–2025
12 mo on HNTIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time (4K)
melodysheep
13 HN recommender · 2019–2025
9 mo on HNThe Solar Gravitational Lens will Map Exoplanets. Seriously.
Launch Pad Astronomy
10 HN recommender · 2020–2025
8 mo on HNPowers of Ten™ (1977)
Eames Office
9 HN recommender · 2012–2025
7 mo on HN'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science
7 HN recommender · 2009–2024
6 mo on HNA new way to visualize General Relativity
ScienceClic English
8 HN recommender · 2020–2026
5 mo on HNCarl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot
carlsagandotcom
5 HN recommender · 2011–2026
6 mo on HNThe REAL Possibility of Mapping Alien Planets!
PBS Space Time
4 HN recommender · 2023–2024
5 mo on HNStar Size Comparison 2
morn1415
5 HN recommender · 2016–2022
5 mo on HNWhat Everyone Gets Wrong About Gravity
Veritasium
7 HN recommender · 2020–2025
4 comments from Hacker News
Very cool! Just one note about the moon orbit around the Earth, it is far more subtle; almost just orbiting the Sun alongside Earth. I can't explain better than minute physics, highly recommend: ▶ this video
This video explains what you’re talking about re the moons orbit always curving toward the sun, and also mentions Earths gravitational dominance. It’s about the suns gravitational pull on the moon dominating over the Earths gravitational pull on the moon, but that due to the centrifugal force (there isn’t one, so conservation of angular momentum) the Earth's gravitational pull dominates. ▶ this video
It’s arguable that even the stuff we consider to orbit the earth like the moon is really orbiting the sun. MinutePhysics did a great video on this: ▶ this video
Minutephysics did a video about this: ▶ this video It looks like a dodecagon with rounded corners, but the video goes into more details.