if the earth moves at over 60k MPH, why does it appear slow to astronauts? Is everything relative to the universe moving? And if so, how fast are you really going when floating in space at a standstill?

Question

if the earth moves at over 60k MPH, why does it appear slow to astronauts? Is everything relative to the universe moving? And if so, how fast are you really going when floating in space at a standstill?

In: Physics

Answer 1

All astronauts are currently orbiting the earth so they are very much moving with the earth around the Sun at roughly the same speed. But, the astronauts ARE moving around the earth in an orbit at about 7 km/s. And yet the Earth has a circumference of 40,000 km. so it takes about 90 minutes to go round it once. That’s why it looks slow, because you’re using 40,000 km as a reference.