If the earth spins around at so many miles per hour how come the stars are in same position each night?

Question

If the earth spins around at so many miles per hour how come the stars are in same position each night?

Answer 1

If you pay close attention over several months you will see that the stars are not in the same position each night. In fact, if you look at a familiar star on one night, you will see that if you go out at the same time the following night the star will be in a slightly different position. Over the course of a week or two this will become very noticeable to you.

HTH

Charles

Answer 2

The stars move too, they are just so far away, they don't "look" like they are moving and the Earth, after all, does move on it's axis.  Sometimes ya' can't tell that a star has moved even in one thousand years.  But, they are, will, and do move, therefore, in another thousand years, our own constellations won't even "look" like our constellations due directly to the stars movement.

Answer 3

The stars do move, as do we, the only thing that makes them seem to look like they are in the same spot is the stars we see at night are many light years away from us.  If we would go outside on a clear night one million years from now, every thing would look different.  The stars we see now have looked the same to us because the space between us is so huge that if a star move a million miles, that star is so far from us it would take millions of years for us to really notice.  Scientist can see movement in stars, but they are so far away, it is impossible to see just by looking up at night.  There are many books talking about star movement and how they look to us, but take a moment to really think about it and it will become clear.

Answer 4

because the next night, 24 hours later, you are facing almost the same direction.  If you sit there and watch a star of a couple of hours straight, you will be able to notice the change in apparent location

Answer 5

The stars are in the same position relative to each other.  But they all rise and set about 4 minutes earlier each day.  That's due to the Earth's orbit around the Sun.  On the same day each year, the stars rise at very close to the same time.

The stars do move relatively to each other.  But they are very far away, so it's difficult to notice.

The Earth's wobble (precession) moves the axis of rotation.  Polaris, the North Star, isn't exactly on the axis.  It's about half a degree off - the width of the full Moon.  In your life time, the amount that this changes is apparent.  So, some of the older club members remember when Polaris was significantly closer to true North.

Answer 6

Because every 24 hours, the Earth rotates into the same position relative to the stars.

Answer 7

You need to get an idea of the scale involved. The surface of the planet at the equator is moving at roughly 1000 miles per hour, the world is approximately 23000 - 24000 miles around so in one day it makes one revolution so each night you see the same stars at the same time. If you sit and watch they move round once every 24 hours..

Answer 8

The stars move as well. Its been awhile since I've taken an astronomy class.

Answer 9

Because you spin back to the same spot.