Editing Solar System (section)

== Galactic position ==
{{See also|Location of Earth|Galactic year|Orbit of the Sun}}
[[File:Milky Way side view.png|thumb|Diagram of the [[Milky Way]], with galactic features and the relative position of the Solar System labeled.]]

The Solar System is located in the [[Milky Way]], a [[barred spiral galaxy]] with a diameter of about 100,000&nbsp;[[light-year]]s containing more than 100&nbsp;billion stars.<ref name="Lang2013">{{Cite book |last=Lang |first=Kenneth R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MN-UCkUK9pcC&pg=PA264 |title=The Life and Death of Stars |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107016385 |page=264 |access-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420161220/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Life_and_Death_of_Stars/MN-UCkUK9pcC?gbpv=1&pg=PA264 |archive-date=20 April 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Sun is part of one of the Milky Way's outer spiral arms, known as the [[Orion–Cygnus Arm]] or Local Spur.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Drimmel |first1=R. |last2=Spergel |first2=D. N. |date=2001 |title=Three Dimensional Structure of the Milky Way Disk |journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal]] |volume=556 |issue=1 |pages=181–202 |arxiv=astro-ph/0101259 |bibcode=2001ApJ...556..181D |doi=10.1086/321556 |s2cid=15757160}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gerhard |first=O. |date=2011 |title=Pattern speeds in the Milky Way |journal=Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana, Supplementi |volume=18 |page=185 |arxiv=1003.2489 |bibcode=2011MSAIS..18..185G}}</ref> It is a member of the [[thin disk]] population of stars orbiting close to the galactic plane.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The formation of the Oort cloud in open cluster environments | last1=Kaib | first1=Nathan A. | last2=Quinn | first2=Thomas | journal=Icarus | date=September 2008 | volume=197 | issue=1 | pages=221–238 | doi=10.1016/j.icarus.2008.03.020 | arxiv=0707.4515 | bibcode=2008Icar..197..221K }}</ref>

Its speed around the center of the Milky Way is about 220&nbsp;km/s, so that it completes one revolution every 240&nbsp;million years.<ref name="Lang2013"/> This revolution is known as the Solar System's [[galactic year]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leong |first=Stacy |date=2002 |title=Period of the Sun's Orbit around the Galaxy (Cosmic Year) |url=http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/StacyLeong.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107010909/https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/StacyLeong.shtml |archive-date=7 January 2019 |access-date=2 April 2007 |website=The Physics Factbook}}</ref> The [[solar apex]], the direction of the Sun's path through interstellar space, is near the constellation [[Hercules (constellation)|Hercules]] in the direction of the current location of the bright star [[Vega]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greiner |first=Walter |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56727455 |title=Classical Mechanics: Point particles and relativity |date=2004 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-387-21851-9 |location=New York |page=323 |oclc=56727455 |access-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420161222/https://www.worldcat.org/title/classical-mechanics-point-particles-and-relativity/oclc/56727455 |archive-date=20 April 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> The plane of the ecliptic lies at an angle of about 60° to the [[galactic plane]].{{Refn |group=lower-alpha |name=angle |1=If <math>\psi</math> is the angle between the [[Ecliptic pole|north pole of the ecliptic]] and the north [[galactic pole]] then:
<br />{{Big|1=<math>\cos\psi=\cos(\beta_g)\cos(\beta_e)\cos(\alpha_g-\alpha_e)+\sin(\beta_g)\sin(\beta_e)</math>}}<br />
where <math>\beta_g</math> = 27° 07′ 42.01″ and <math>\alpha_g</math> = 12h 51m 26.282s are the declination and right ascension of the north galactic pole,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Reid |first1=M. J. |last2=Brunthaler |first2=A. |date=2004 |title=The Proper Motion of Sagittarius A* |journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal]] |volume=616 |issue=2 |pages=872–884 |arxiv=astro-ph/0408107 |bibcode=2004ApJ...616..872R |doi=10.1086/424960 |s2cid=16568545}}</ref> whereas <math>\beta_e</math> = 66° 33′ 38.6″ and <math>\alpha_e</math> = 18h 0m 00s are those for the north pole of the ecliptic. (Both pairs of coordinates are for [[J2000]] epoch.) The result of the calculation is 60.19°.}}

The Sun follows a nearly circular orbit around the [[Galactic Center]] (where the [[supermassive black hole]] [[Sagittarius A*]] resides) at a distance of 26,660&nbsp;light-years,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Abuter |first1=R. |last2=Amorim |first2=A. |last3=Bauböck |first3=M. |last4=Berger |first4=J. P. |last5=Bonnet |first5=H. |last6=Brandner |first6=W. |last7=Clénet |first7=Y. |last8=Coudé du Foresto |first8=V. |last9=de Zeeuw |first9=P. T. |last10=Dexter |first10=J. |display-authors=6 |date=May 2019 |title=A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty |url=https://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935656 |url-status=live |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics |volume=625 |page=L10 |arxiv=1904.05721 |bibcode=2019A&A...625L..10G |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201935656 |issn=0004-6361 |s2cid=119190574 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420161243/https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2019/05/aa35656-19/aa35656-19.html |archive-date=20 April 2022 |access-date=1 April 2022}}</ref> orbiting at roughly the same speed as that of the spiral arms.<ref name="astrobiology">{{Cite web |last=Mullen |first=Leslie |date=18 May 2001 |title=Galactic Habitable Zones |url=http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/galactic-habitable-zones |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807024530/http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/139/galactic-habitable-zones |archive-date=7 August 2011 |access-date=1 June 2020 |website=Astrobiology Magazine}}</ref> If it orbited close to the center, gravitational tugs from nearby stars could perturb bodies in the [[#Oort cloud|Oort cloud]] and send many comets into the inner Solar System, producing collisions with potentially catastrophic implications for life on Earth. In this scenario, the intense radiation of the Galactic Center could interfere with the development of complex life.<ref name="astrobiology" />

The Solar System's location in the Milky Way is a factor in the [[evolutionary history of life]] on Earth. Spiral arms are home to a far larger concentration of [[supernova]]e, gravitational instabilities, and radiation that could disrupt the Solar System, but since Earth stays in the Local Spur and therefore does not pass frequently through spiral arms, this has given Earth long periods of stability for life to evolve.<ref name="astrobiology" /> However, according to the controversial [[Shiva hypothesis]], the changing position of the Solar System relative to other parts of the Milky Way could explain periodic [[extinction events]] on Earth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bailer-Jones |first=C. A. L. |date=1 July 2009 |title=The evidence for and against astronomical impacts on climate change and mass extinctions: a review |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009IJAsB...8..213B |url-status=live |journal=International Journal of Astrobiology |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=213–219 |arxiv=0905.3919 |bibcode=2009IJAsB...8..213B |doi=10.1017/S147355040999005X |s2cid=2028999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401231355/https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009IJAsB...8..213B |archive-date=1 April 2022 |access-date=1 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Racki |first=Grzegorz |date=December 2012 |title=The Alvarez Impact Theory of Mass Extinction; Limits to its Applicability and the "Great Expectations Syndrome" |url=https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app20110058.html |url-status=live |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |language=en |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=681–702 |doi=10.4202/app.2011.0058 |issn=0567-7920 |s2cid=54021858 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401214314/https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app20110058.html |archive-date=1 April 2022 |access-date=1 April 2022 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=20.500.12128/534}}</ref>