If you want to imagine how you’re moving through space, you must try to envision a triple motion: The Earth is rotating on it’s axis, revolving around the Sun, and orbiting along with the Sun and the other planets around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

These three basic motions occur at different speeds and take quite different amounts of time for a single cycle. The Earth rotates once each day at speeds that range from about a 1000 miles per hour at the equator, through 700 miles per hour at the latitudes of the United States, to zero at the poles. The Earth’s speed in orbit around the sun is 72,000 miles per hour. Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way at 576,000 miles per hour.