I thought it was a like Jerryboree but for Barys, which I think makes way more sense.
Comment on Say hello to Bary
s@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
Is it more true to say that Jupiter (and the other planets and asteroid belts and dust clouds in our solar system) orbits the Sun, and the Sun orbits the barycenter? The barycenter that the sun revolves around is influenced (marginally) by the other bodies in the solar system and not just Jupiter. If the definition of a barycenter is to be interpreted as this image suggests, that would mean that no material object orbits another material object and they instead orbit their collective center of mass somewhere in space.
saltesc@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
s@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
Jerry loves Pluto, but Bary thinks very little of it
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
That’s exactly what happens. Why do you think this is incorrect?
s@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
It seems to fundamentally change what it means “to orbit” something.
As I understood the term, orbiting would be used correctly in these cases:
A lighter object orbits a heavier object, and both of their paths of motion are elliptical about their barycenter
Two objects of identical mass orbit each other, and their paths of motion are circular about their barycenter
In contrast, the image above implies the following:
A lighter object does not orbit a heavier object; they both orbit their barycenter with an elliptical path of motion
Two objects of identical mass do no orbit each other; they both orbit their barycenter with an circular path of motion
Even the Wikipedia page for barycenter, which OP linked to, opens with the following:
“the barycenter… is the center of massof two or more bodies that orbit one another and is the point about which the bodies orbit.”
Perhaps “orbit” as a verb has two meanings, depending on the specificity of the context.
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
I guess your conclusion is right. In situations where the barycenter of two (or more) objects is not sufficiently different from the center of mass of the heaviest object, we simplify the description by assuming that the barycenter and the center of mass of the heavier object are equal.
Just because I’ve already edited it, here’s an animation of Earth orbiting the Earth–Moon barycenter:
Image
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
No, your earlier definitions are incorrect. All orbits happen around the barycenter. The only question is whether one of the bodies is large/massive enough that the barycenter is located within it
s@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
I mean, the Wikipedia page for Jupiter says “Jupiter orbits the Sun”