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Double_Trust6266 t1_j1opw3u wrote

The mass of a planet, never changes unless you send an object (mass) out of earths orbit, like voyager 1 and voyager 2. If you alter the planets mass, you alter the gravitational pull to the Sun!

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the_fungible_man t1_j1otz3y wrote

This is not correct on several levels.

The mass of the Earth is constantly changing:

  • Atmospheric loss: -100000 tons/year.
  • Micrometeoroids: +50000 tons/year.

This net mass loss has no measurable effect on the shape of the Earth's orbit. However, the continuous mass loss of the Sun (5 million tons/sec via fusion and the solar wind) does mean the Earth's orbit grows ever so slightly more distant from year to year.

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Lif3Fu3L t1_j1os1hk wrote

So what your saying is all the space trash, ISS, Hubble, etc is mass that has left the plant? And the sun’s gravitational pull is stronger and could be the actual cause of global warming?

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ttraband t1_j1p2ul1 wrote

Anything in orbit around the earth (all the space trash, ISS, Hubble) is still part of the earth’s mass from an orbital mechanics point of view. The fact that it’s a little further away from center of mass of the earth is an infinitesimally small rounding error when looking at the mass of the earth and the sun.

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TharTheBard t1_j1p75fh wrote

Your mass has no influence on how much you are being pulled to an object, only your distance from it does. Orbits of planets are determined by distance from the object they orbit and their velocity. At given distance you have to be in given velocity range to stay in orbit.

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Double_Trust6266 t1_j1os7w6 wrote

Maybe the other way round? Less mass and we are slightly further away? Colder? Not hotter

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Dr_DMT t1_j1otyd7 wrote

Or maybe our days just get shorter by a fraction of a second and that mass loss is made up for in centrifugal forces.

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