I was inspired to start this new thread based on this quote that Ask Mr. Religion posted in another thread (my reply follows):
And what of gravity?
There are obvious problems with geocentrism. For starters, as of 10 July 2015, 1932 planets in 1222 planetary systems have been discovered outside of our solar system, and all of these planets have been found to be revolving around other stars. Moons revolve around planets, and planets revolve around stars. That's the way solar systems work. Nowhere in the universe have we found a star that revolves around a planet. Planets are much smaller than stars. Stars need a large amount of mass because they need to contain a great deal of fuel in order to feed the thermonuclear fusion that keeps them burning. Stars have more mass and therefore more gravitational pull, and it is this gravitational pull that keeps planets in orbit around stars. Stars give birth to planets; planets don't give birth to stars.
If the earth is stationary, then this means that the entire universe is rotating around the earth once every 24 hours. This is an absolutely ridiculous impossibility. First of all, the earth does not have enough mass--and therefore enough gravitational pull--to keep anything beyond the moon in orbit around it. Secondly, our own galaxy is not revolving around earth. Rather, our solar system is revolving around the galactic center.
Actually, the earth does not revolve around the sun per se, but around the solar system's center of mass:
Source: http://www.uwgb.edu/DutchS/PSEUDOSC/Geocentrism.HTM
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism#The_view_of_modern_science
The center of mass in the solar system is commonly referred to in astronomy and astrophysics as the barycenter. "The barycenter is the point between two objects where they balance each other; it is the center of mass where two or more celestial bodies orbit each other."
This video animation depicts the movement of the sun and the planets around the barycenter, which is represented by a red diamond shape:
Helio or geo models both work, just as in electronics where positive or negative electron flow assumptions will work.
The answers should be guided by Scripture, which theologically declares the earth to be the center of all creation.
Seems to me that only the geo view provides a satisfactory answer to Scripture, e.g., Joshua 10, which also agrees with Michaelson and Morley, unless you subscribe to relativity—Einstein's attempt to reconcile heliocentrism with Michaelson- Morley.
And what of gravity?
There are obvious problems with geocentrism. For starters, as of 10 July 2015, 1932 planets in 1222 planetary systems have been discovered outside of our solar system, and all of these planets have been found to be revolving around other stars. Moons revolve around planets, and planets revolve around stars. That's the way solar systems work. Nowhere in the universe have we found a star that revolves around a planet. Planets are much smaller than stars. Stars need a large amount of mass because they need to contain a great deal of fuel in order to feed the thermonuclear fusion that keeps them burning. Stars have more mass and therefore more gravitational pull, and it is this gravitational pull that keeps planets in orbit around stars. Stars give birth to planets; planets don't give birth to stars.
If the earth is stationary, then this means that the entire universe is rotating around the earth once every 24 hours. This is an absolutely ridiculous impossibility. First of all, the earth does not have enough mass--and therefore enough gravitational pull--to keep anything beyond the moon in orbit around it. Secondly, our own galaxy is not revolving around earth. Rather, our solar system is revolving around the galactic center.
Actually, the earth does not revolve around the sun per se, but around the solar system's center of mass:
Conservation of momentum requires that when one object circles another, the center of mass of the system must remain fixed. The two objects actually revolve around their common centers of mass. For double stars with comparable masses, the center of mass is between the stars. For cases where one object is far bigger than the other, like the earth and moon, or the sun and earth, the center of mass is within the larger object. But it is never at the center of the larger object. So if anything revolves around the earth, the earth also has to move. Unless you want to postulate that, of all objects in the universe, the earth is not subject to the laws of motion. But individual pieces of earth obey the laws of motion. Tie two rocks to opposite ends of a string and throw them, and they'll revolve around their center of mass. So why would the earth as a whole be different? Where's the evidence that it is?
Source: http://www.uwgb.edu/DutchS/PSEUDOSC/Geocentrism.HTM
[T]he Sun is not at the geometric center of any planet's orbit, but rather approximately at one focus of the elliptical orbit. Furthermore, to the extent that a planet's mass cannot be neglected in comparison to the Sun's mass, the center of gravity of the solar system is displaced slightly away from the center of the Sun. (The masses of the planets, mostly Jupiter, amount to 0.14% of that of the Sun.) Therefore a hypothetical astronomer on an extrasolar planet would observe a small "wobble" in the Sun's motion.
In modern calculations the terms "geocentric" and "heliocentric" are often used to refer to coordinate systems that are chosen for practical reasons. In such systems the origin in the center of mass of the Earth, of the Earth-Moon system, of the Sun, of the Sun plus the major planets, or of the entire solar system can be selected. However, such selection of "geocentric" or "heliocentric" coordinates has only practical implications and not philosophical or physical ones.
In modern calculations the terms "geocentric" and "heliocentric" are often used to refer to coordinate systems that are chosen for practical reasons. In such systems the origin in the center of mass of the Earth, of the Earth-Moon system, of the Sun, of the Sun plus the major planets, or of the entire solar system can be selected. However, such selection of "geocentric" or "heliocentric" coordinates has only practical implications and not philosophical or physical ones.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism#The_view_of_modern_science
The center of mass in the solar system is commonly referred to in astronomy and astrophysics as the barycenter. "The barycenter is the point between two objects where they balance each other; it is the center of mass where two or more celestial bodies orbit each other."
This video animation depicts the movement of the sun and the planets around the barycenter, which is represented by a red diamond shape:
