Even though you might be just sitting around absolutely still while reading this article, you are being hurled across space at very high speeds. No, this is not some crazy theory and no, I am not trying to mislead you, it is an actual fact. 



We tend to measure speed as distance covered in a fixed amount of time which is just fine but speed is also a very relative term. While we are measuring the speed of a runner, we are measuring it relative to the Earth, the same goes with our other measurements of speed and velocity. 


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On the scale of the universe, we measure the velocity of different heavenly bodies, galaxies or anything for that matter, relative to other astronomical objects. Therefore, while we measure our velocity relative to Earth, we seldom think about our velocity relative to other astronomical objects of importance to us.



That is the reason why even if you are sitting on the couch, you are moving at a very fast pace across space. This pace can differ according to what your frame of reference is. You do not have one true speed.



At 1,000 miles/hour


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Right now, you might be totally stationary sitting on your chair, but you along with everything and everyone else is ‘attached’ to the Earth and so when the Earth rotates on its axis, we move along with it. That’s how we experience day and night.



So, given that the Earth’s circumference is roughly 25,000 miles and it takes 24 hours to complete one rotation, we can say that we are all moving towards the east at 1000 miles an hour (1600 km/hr). 



That is also the reason we would all be flung due east at 1000 miles an hour if the Earth suddenly stopped rotating. It’s crazy to think that we move at such a high velocity and yet do not feel it or even think about it, but wait, there’s more!



At 66,000 miles/hour


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Along with it’s rotation, the Earth also revolves around the sun which is 150 million kilometres away from us. The full path around the sun is completed in 1 year i.e. 365 days. The distance that the Earth covers in that time is a staggering 600 million miles. 



If you do the calculations, that is a hasty 66,000 miles per hour (107,000 km/hr). So, a person on Earth is moving with the Earth around the sun at that speed. 



At this speed, you could reach the moon in only 3.6 hours given that it is at a distance of 238,900 miles from us. And yet, we never imagine ourselves moving at such high speeds because our frame of reference is the Earth. 



At 483,000 miles/hour


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Let’s look at a bigger picture. We revolve around the sun which is only one of a hundred billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy, the milky way, is a spiral galaxy which has a super massive black hole at its centre. 



All the stars in the galaxy are in an orbit around this centre. Different stars move at a different speed. Our sun, takes 225 million years to complete one orbit around the centre of the galaxy and it does it at the speed of 483,000 miles/hour. 



So, we on Earth share this journey around the centre of the galaxy too. Fun fact: since the formation of our sun and the planets, the sun has only made 20 orbits up till now.



At 1.3 million miles/hour


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So, now you might be thinking that moving at such high speeds is simply impossible and yet it us quite true. Our galaxy is moving across space at an unimaginable speed.



Up until recently, we were not sure about the frame of reference on such a large scale because when we are talking about speeds of galaxies, there is not fixed frame of reference as every galaxy is moving and nothing is at rest.



But recently scientists suggested that the Cosmic Background radiation, which is a remnant of the Big Bang itself and which fills the entire universe, can be taken as a frame of reference for the speeds of galaxies.



So, they ran the calculations and it turns out, our galaxy, along with everything in it, is moving through space at 1.3 million miles per hour.   

So, as you can see, our speed or velocity is dictated by our frame of reference. We might consider ourselves completely still and yet if measured in relation to the various astronomical bodies, we are moving at unimaginable speeds. We seldom think about things on the scale of the universe as we are more concerned with things here on Earth, but it is really an eye opener when you realise the true magnificence of the universe and its workings.