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Old_Man_Bridge t1_j6wbmbt wrote

So, the earth is falling around the sun, the the sun/solar system is falling (around?) within the Milky Way, is the entire Milky Way falling? Is everything in space continuously falling at relative velocities to each other? If everything is falling does the expansion of space mean there’s always room for everything to continuously fall? Or if space is 4 dimensional and finite does everything just fall and curve in a way we can’t perceive?

I’ve got a lot fundamentally wrong in my thinking, I have no doubt.

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Varsect t1_j6wy7o4 wrote

When we mean ‘falling’ we talk of being captured in a gravitational well and being forced to move around it if the body is rotating. And you can fall in accordance as long as you share a barycenter. So yes, we are technically falling in the Local Group's gravitational well.

>If everything is falling does the expansion of space mean there’s always room for everything to continuously fall?

Eh..... roughly yes.

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