Can a star orbit a planet
In: Planetary Science
Technically, stars and planets orbit each other, so yes. But in the way we commonly define orbit, no.
Take two golf balls and tie them together with a sting of some length. Then throw them up in the air while spinning them. They will rotate around the the middle of the string because their masses are equal. Now replace one of those golf balls with a baseball and throw it up in the air while spinning them. The golf ball is going to look like it is closer to “orbiting” the baseball, but the baseball is still going to move around a little bit. This is because the common center of mass is much closer to the baseball than the golf ball.
The same principal would apply to planets and starts, except the relationship would be closer to a marble and a wrecking ball tied together. There still is SOME pull between them, but it’s so insignificant that we just write it off as nothing.
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