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According to the Helical model, as the Sun orbits around the galaxy, the planets that orbit the sun are travelling perpendicular to the path of the Sun. This is better shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jHsq36_NTU

My question is, which pole on Earth faces in the direction that the Sun moves? The South Pole or the North Pole?

Jimmery
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    What is the "helical model"? – ProfRob Dec 17 '18 at 18:48
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    I think this https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/28584/in-which-direction-is-the-sun-travelling/28586#28586 provides an answer to an almost duplicate question. – ProfRob Dec 17 '18 at 18:50
  • Vsauce does a nice job as well: https://youtu.be/IJhgZBn-LHg?t=1014 – uhoh Dec 18 '18 at 03:08
  • @RobJeffries I am sure your answer is absolutely correct, but I still have a hard time getting everything straight in my head. Does it mean that if I stood at about 30 degrees North latitude that once a day the Sun's direction of motion wrt the galaxy would be straight overhead? – uhoh Dec 18 '18 at 03:16
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    The YouTube video referred to in the OP is full of nonsense and has been widely debunked. – ProfRob Dec 18 '18 at 07:14
  • @uhoh There's nothing to get straight. Motion wrt local population is towards the solar apex, but motion wrt the Galactic centre is towards Vela. – ProfRob Dec 18 '18 at 07:18
  • @RobJeffries thanks; I'm the sole curator of the "stuff in my head", and so when I think I don't have things straightened out there, we'll all have to take my word for it. ;-) – uhoh Dec 18 '18 at 07:41
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    @JamesK I think the answer directly below this question answers this question in a far better, clearer and more concise way than answers there do. I don't see a need to close this question. – uhoh Feb 29 '20 at 00:56
  • My question specifically asks which pole on Earth faces in the direction that the Sun moves - the "duplicate question" doesn't answer this at all, and only talks about which direction the Sun travels - can somebody explain why my question has been marked as a duplicate please? – Jimmery Mar 02 '20 at 09:12

1 Answers1

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My question is, which pole on Earth faces in the direction that the Sun moves? The South Pole or the North Pole?

The North pole is in the hemisphere of the direction of motion of the solar system through the galaxy.

The direction in which the Sun in traveling relative to surrounding stars is called the solar apex and is located at (RA) 18h 28m 0s (dec) 30°N, which is a point in the northern hemisphere.

uhoh
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usernumber
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    +1 I think your answer is a far better, clearer and more concise answer to the OP's question than the linked proposed duplicates, so I'm voting not to close as duplicate! – uhoh Feb 29 '20 at 00:55