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lifesyndrome OP t1_j5wruwo wrote

Reply to comment by ExtonGuy in If you were in space facing Antartica and you flew towards it, gravity-wise would you be going up or down? by lifesyndrome

no I mean

if u were superman in space...you'd be flying UP but once passed the atmosphere...you'd be flying down to the land. wouldn't that boggle your brain a little bit?

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Orion113 t1_j5wsvw5 wrote

There is no up in space. Every direction is the same. Superman could be staring at the Earth from space, and flip his whole body around so that Antarctica is "on top" of the Earth, and then fly "down" to it. Or he could flip 90 degrees so Antarctica is "on the side" of the Earth, and fly straight into it.

That Antarctica is placed at the bottom of every map and globe is completely arbitrary, it's not because it's actually up, down, left, or right. It's just there.

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520SunSpider t1_j5wsv4u wrote

How would you be flying down towards land when you’re flying away from earth? Try thinking outward instead of “Up”

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pbmadman t1_j5wtqx7 wrote

See, it the “up” part in the first sentence you have all wrong. There is no up. Showing the earth with the North Pole as up is merely convention. It would be just as correct to flip it over and have the South Pole at the top (as viewed while standing on earth). We put the solar system “flat” with the planets orbiting in the direction they do only as convention, there is no up or down in the absence of gravity.

Think of it like this. Up is always pointing away from the center of earth. Down is always pointing towards the center.

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DeeJuggle t1_j5wte8j wrote

In space, whether you're Superman or not, there is no UP.

Assuming that there is a designated direction that you can label as "up" in space, is what's causing your confusion. That assumption is incorrect.

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