The Solar System orbits the galaxy at 828,000 km/h. Since you were born, where are we now?
The Solar System doesn't sit still. It orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 230 kilometers per second — roughly 828,000 km/h. One full orbit takes about 225 million Earth years. That's called a galactic year.
Since you were born, you've traveled sideways through the galaxy without leaving your chair. For a 30-year-old, that's about 196 billion kilometers — about 1.3 AU, or 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. The Sun has also been moving relative to nearby stars, and the Milky Way itself is falling toward the Andromeda Galaxy at 110 km/s.
ESA's Gaia mission is currently mapping the positions and motions of 1.8 billion stars in the Milky Way. It's giving us the most precise 3D map of our galaxy ever created — and confirming just how fast we're all moving.
The Solar System orbits the galactic center at ~828,000 km/h. One galactic orbit takes ~225 million years.
No. Life on Earth began ~4 billion years ago — about 18 galactic orbits ago. We're on our 19th lap.
Your age is a measure of Earth's orbits. On Mercury, you'd be 4 times older. On Neptune, you'd be a toddler.