Page 48 - The Glory in the Heavens

around the Sun. No planet stops following its orbit to

fly off into the depths of outer space. That is because

planets remain under the gravitational attraction of

the Sun. As you read these lines, our Earth is moving
at the enormous speed of 108,000 kilometres (70,000

miles) per hour in its orbit around the Sun. An analo-

gy may help you to grasp the enormity of this speed:

the maximum speed a car can travel is around 200

kilometres (125 miles) per hour. This means the speed

of Earth's rotation around the Sun is 540 times the

speed of a car. Another example is the following: a

bullet moves at a speed of 1,800 kilometres (1,100
46
miles) per hour. The speed of Earth's rotation around
the Sun is 60 times the speed of a bullet.

Because of this high speed the Earth moves at,

the gravitational pull of the Sun is very important. If

the Sun started to exert less gravitational force, we

The speed of our
Earth around the Sun
is 540 times the speed
of a racing car.