I have only just realised that I have now competed a journey of 11,968 million kilometres or 7,440 million miles. And I am barely sweating.... out of breath but for very different reasons.
In fact of course that is only half the story.
The sun we orbit as above is also orbiting our galaxy, the Milky Way, at 720,000 km/h (448,000 mph ) but the orbit is so vast that it will take 230 million years to complete one. So on that scale we have not moved far in my lifetime.
But even more curious is that the Milky Way is not static but is also moving. At 2.1 million km/hr (1.3 million miles per hour)! Its enough to make your head spin...
The problem is that this is all in different directions. So none of them make a simple vortex through space; they are muddled together and despite my efforts I cannot fin anyone who has yet got a computer to draw it. Soon I bet.
Anyway, I just thought some of you might like the idea. Life is indeed a journey....
PS - Just an additional thought. At the speed quoted above, since the Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, it and its star and the retinue of planets will have completed 20 million orbits. So if in doubt, plenty of time for evolution wouldn't you say?
My son in law Pat found this interesting motion rack of what I have described.
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