What is the difference between orbiting and rotation?

Answer 1

To orbit is to revolve or go around something else. Satellites, the space shuttle, space stations, and the Moon all orbit (go around) the Earth. Astronomically, this is the motion caused by the gravitational pull of another object. Earth orbits our yellow-dwarf G-2 sun, and the Sun (and its solar system) orbits within the Milky Way galaxy. Here's a more simple example: a person can orbit another person by simply running around them in a circle.

To rotate is to spin around. Earth rotates on its axis at about 1037 miles per hour. A person can rotate by standing in one place and turning around and around.

Earth actually orbits and rotates at the same time : it spins while it moves in a circle around the Sun. A person can spin continuously while moving in a circle, but it would make them dizzy!
A. ORBIT: one body in space keeps moving in a large 'almost-circle' around another. Example, the Moon orbits the Earth while the Earth (and Moon) orbit the Sun.

B. ROTATION: one body in space spins like a top around its own axis. Example, the Moon rotates, the Earth rotates, the Sun rotates.

Answer 2

Orbiting typically refers to an object moving around another object in a curved path, usually due to gravity, such as a planet orbiting a star. Rotation, on the other hand, refers to an object spinning around its own axis, like the Earth rotating on its axis every 24 hours. Rotation is an internal movement, while orbiting is an external movement in relation to another object.