What direction is the earth's revolution?

Answer 1

If we assume that North is at the top, and you are standing mid-way betwen the equator and the North pole and looking at the sun, then the earth rotates towards your left, i.e. Eastwards.

Looking down on the Earth from high above the North pole, we will see that it spins on its axis counterclockwise(anticlockwise). After a few days we will also notice that it rotates in its orbit around the sun also in a counterclockwise direction.

And the moon? Well, it doesn't rotate on its axis relative to the earth. It always shows the same face to the earth, as it orbits the earth in a ... counterclockwise direction too!

Answer 2

Depends on your reference frame. The earth revolves around the sun, in the same direction that the Earth rotates about it's axis. To give revolution any other form of direction would require a stationary point of observation away from both the sun and earth.

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The Earth rotates from West to East, or counterclockwise as viewed from over the North Pole. Similarly, the Earth revolves around the Sun in same counterclockwise direction (as viewed from over the North Pole). I was interested in this question based on the thought experiment, "what if the Earth stopped rotating?" The direction of the Earth's revolution around the Sun affects what would happen. If you imagined the Earth gradually slowing its rotation, it would reach a point where it was tidally locked with the Sun (i.e., it makes exactly one rotation in one year). This means the same side of the Earth would always face the Sun (just like the Moon and Earth) and the Sun would remain permanently still in the sky for a given point on the Earth. Once the Earth stopped rotating altogether, one day would take a year (6 months of daylight, 6 months of night), but the Sun would appear to rise in the West and set in the East. Thus, over the whole process, the Sun's movement across the sky would gradually slow down, stop, then start moving again the opposite direction.

If the direction of the Earth's revolution around the Sun was opposite its rotation, the same thought experiment would have different results. It would not be possible for Earth to become tidally locked and the Sun would always move in the same direction until the length of a "day" was exactly one year.

Answer 3

Compared to what ? If you're hanging in space above the north pole and

looking down, you see the Earth revolving counterclockwise. And if you're

hanging in space above the south pole looking down, you see it revolving

clockwise.