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Gravity. The sun's mass keeps all the planets in place, following the same orbit.

It is the same with the moon around the Earth and for others planets moons.

If the moon was bigger than the Earth, then earth would orbit the moon because the moon's mass is bigger.

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14y ago
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12y ago

Actually, the stars in a galaxy don't move in a spiral pattern! Spiral arms are density waves, places where the stars and gas are a bit more densely packed together. They're a bit like traffic jams - individual cars move in an out of a traffic jam, but the traffic jam itself stays where it is. The same thing happens in a spiral galaxy - individual stars move in and out of the spiral arms, but the spiral arms move independently of them.

So what causes the spiral arms? It's a complicated effect caused partly by the gravity of everything in the galaxy pulling on everything else combined with its rotation - computer simulations show that that produces a kind of spiral pressure wave, like a gigantic sound wave, that compresses the stars, gas and dust and concentrates them into the spiral arms.

Because gas and dust are tightly packed together in spiral arms, they tend to form enormous clouds or nebulae where new stars form. The brightest stars tend to live for a very short time (millions of years as opposed to billions!) and don't have time to travel very far before they die. This is why the spiral arms are so bright - partly because they have a higher concentration of stars, but also because they're where all the bright stars live too. Between the spiral arms you get thinner gas and dust, fewer stars, and the stars are all dimmer and older because they've had time to move out of the spiral arms where they formed.

Our own Sun is currently in a small spiral density wave known as the Orion Spur. It seems to be a sort of mini-arm; a bridge linking two true arms of the Milky Way.

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13y ago

Gravity keeps objects in orbit. It there was no gravity then the object would fly away.

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11y ago

The gravitational force in both directions between the orbiting body and the central

body is the only force required. Which is lucky, because that's the only force there is.

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Q: What keeps the objects in the solar system in orbit around the sun?
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Related questions

What keeps the planets and other objects in the solar system in orbit around the sun?

The gravitational force between the sun and each object in the solar system


What kind of energy keeps the solar system in orbit around the sun?

Gravity keeps everything in orbit around the Sun.


A system of objects in orbit around your sun?

solar system


What keeps the planets in the solar system in orbit around the sun?

The Sun's strong gravity keeps all the planets in orbit around it.


What objects are in orbit outside of the solar system Periodically earth passes through their orbits?

If the objects are in orbit around the sun then they are in the Solar System.


What keeps the planets and other solar system objects in orbit around the sun?

The force of gravity is what keeps planets and other objects in orbit around the sun, along with the angular momentum of the planets and objects. Without gravity, they would just fly away into space, and without angular momentum, they would just fall into the sun. But both of those together produce orbital motion.


Does gravity pull on objects that are in orbit around earth?

Yes. It is gravity that keeps those objects in orbit. Without gravity they would simply move in a straight line.


What keeps Neptune in our solar system in orbit around the sun?

GRAVITY of course!


What is made up of the sun and all the objects that orbit around it?

The Solar System.


What force orbits around the earth?

No force orbits around the Earth. Forces do not orbit. The force that keeps material objects in orbit around the Earth is the mutual force of gravity between the Earth and the object.


What keeps the planets in our solar system in orbit around the Sun?

The Sun's strong gravity keeps all the planets in orbit around it.


What major force keeps the planets and everything in the solar system in orbit around the sun?

gravity