Rotation from Earth

A few hours ago I was outside with my friend while he was taking a smoke. While we were talking I looked up and saw orion's belt. After I while I started thinking about wheather it's possible to notice Earth's rotation. I stared straight at orion's belt for like 1 minute to see if I could see the stars move.

I don't know if it was just me, but I think I saw it moving really slowly. I only stared for about one minute though because I was busy talking to my friend and I didn't really take it seriously at that time. And I actually felt kinda sick after a while. So now I really want to know.

If you stare straight at a star or star formation for a really long time will you be able to notice any type of rotation? I know it's kinda obvious, but there's still something that makes me doubt it.

[edit on 23-11-2007 by ZikhaN]

If you stare at anything for a long enough period of time it will appear to move. It's because your eyes actually do make these small movements so that the the light from the object will fall on different parts of the retina. Otherwise everything will just fade.

Get a video recorder and tape a couple hours of the sky and you'll see the rotation then. And if you can sit somewhere and not move and also try to pick a star that is by a tree limb or some kind of reference and you'll see it move. It just takes much longer when you have to stare at it for so long.

Originally posted by Beachcoma
If you stare at anything for a long enough period of time it will appear to move. It's because your eyes actually do make these small movements so that the the light from the object will fall on different parts of the retina. Otherwise everything will just fade.

I knew it was just me;p But if you stare for like 30 minute straight, haha.

Thx for the comment solarsky. You're right haha, staring at something is boring and I don't think anyone would be able to stare at a star for 1 hour straight;D Only option is probably to record.

[edit on 23-11-2007 by ZikhaN]

reply to post by ZikhaN


If I stared at one spot in the sky for 30 minutes I think I'll pop my eyes out from the strain

Hahhaha yeah I know, I just wrote that to solarsky. Staring at something makes time go slow. I don't think I could stare at something more than maybe 2 minutes.

Originally posted by ZikhaN
Staring at something makes time go slow.

I look at this as proof that time is indeed relative -- the less fascinating the activity, the slower time will pass.

Of course it would be moving. It is the effect of orbiting around the Sun. It, or we are never at rest, as far as being on our planet.
The refereance Idea is the best, but if you know the sky and even if you don't maintain a constant visual, the aparent become's the obvious.

Here's a suggestion:

Take an object in the sky that you can easily mark to a reference point on the ground such as a tree, roof top, hill, etc....
Don't stare directly at the star for the duration, but note it's location and then observe every 5 minutes or so to watch it move.

By noting the degree of movement you could probably even calculate the speed of rotation of the planet just for fun.

You may have seen some rotation.

Sweetie and I got caught in a bad windstorm when anchored at Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast one long day and longer night.

We took turns standing two hour watches and you could see the skys rotation after you'd learned which stars you wanted to watch.

An iteresting time and one thing learned, living an adventure is way different than reading about it....

Put a nail in your deck, or a tree limb.
Something you can easily line up, from
you're fixed position. (lawn chair for example)

Note position of Orion.

Head inside and read ATS for 30 min.

Head back to the lawn chair.

Observe Orion, and the nail.

Enjoy,
Lex

A cheap, non-motorized, tripod-mounted telescope can be used to observe Earth's rotation directly. Simply train the telescope on the Moon or a starfield, and you'll notice that the objects move through the telescope's field of view at a pretty decent rate. The apparent motion of the objects is due to the Earth's rotaion.

[edit on 23-11-2007 by Xenophobe]

Good question! Sometimes as I lay in bed and look out of the window I can see a bright star through the narrow gap afforded by the blinds. If I position my head so the star is near the edge of the gap and hold still I can see the star sloooowly move out of sight behind the slat.

So, yeah! You can see the rotation of the Earth in many ways. Another good way is to see sunlight creep across the floor or wall. You can easily perceive the movement.

Don't look up, look down

You want to observe Earth's rotation?

Stick a stake in the ground on a bright sunny day. Mark the position on the ground where the shadow of the top of the stake falls.

Wait ten minutes, do it again.

Repeat ad nauseum

You just saw the earth move. Literally.

reply to post by Astyanax


You, and all the others, gave nice tips on how folks that want to become interested in these things can have some up close and personal interaction with space and time.

Sometimes we forget that all of the things we take for granted can be a totally new field of experience for others.

Thanks guys.

Similar to what 'Astyanax' posted above, you could watch the edge of a sun-shadow on a sunny day on concrete or pavement or something. There are enough "reference points" in the concrete (gravel, cracks, etc.) that you can easily see the shadow moving across these refenence points. You'd be surprised to see how much the shadows moves in only 2 or 3 minutes.

I love watching the moon since it's so close to us. A total solar eclipse back when I don't know when really amazed me. Just to see the moon move so slow across the sun in my eyes, but probably faster than I realized was spectacular. I know on several nights all the time I'll see orion and go back in and out and see him in a different position. Still, if you ever get a chance to video tape an eight hour session of the sky and speed it up. it's worth the watch.

You sure did observe the rotation of the earth ZikhaN.
You are right that we humans can sense this movement especially when we have such good points of reference as our stars.
When you look through a telescope it becomes apparent how fast we are spinning here on our little tiny ball that we call "earth."
Great stuff isn't it?

lay down on the ground or a chair or whatever, right under the eave of your house, then pick the star that is closest to the eave and watch it, within a minute or so you will have noticed it move farther (or closer depending on which side of the house you are on).

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
You sure did observe the rotation of the earth ZikhaN.
You are right that we humans can sense this movement especially when we have such good points of reference as our stars.
When you look through a telescope it becomes apparent how fast we are spinning here on our little tiny ball that we call "earth."
Great stuff isn't it?

Yeah it's really cool. Not a lot of people think or care about it though;(

[edit on 6-12-2007 by ZikhaN]