{"id":570462,"date":"2025-11-14T19:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/570462\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:22:13","slug":"our-solar-system-is-moving-3-times-faster-than-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/570462\/","title":{"rendered":"Our solar system is moving 3 times faster than expected"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThis video shows our solar system moving through the galaxy. The view is from a hypothetical vantage of a typical interstellar object in the sun\u2019s vicinity. Illustration via Tony Dunn at Orbit Simulator<\/a>. Read more: The motion of the solar system through our galaxy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Our solar system is moving faster than expected<\/p>\n

Our solar system was thought to be moving at around 515,000 mph (828,000 kph) through space, as it orbits the center of our Milky Way<\/a> galaxy. But a new study from researchers at Bielefeld University in Germany suggests our solar system is moving more than three times faster than that. The researchers said<\/a> on November 13, 2025, that the new findings challenge the established standard model<\/a> of cosmology.<\/p>\n

How can our solar system challenge a cosmoloigical model? The speed of our solar system around the galaxy\u2019s center has implications for the rotational speed of our galaxy as a whole. And if our galaxy is rotating faster than expected, it might suggest other galaxies are, too. The lead author of this new study, Lukas B\u00f6hme<\/a> of Bielefeld University in Bielefeld, Germany, confirmed<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\n

Our analysis shows that the solar system is moving more than three times faster than current models predict. This result clearly contradicts expectations based on standard cosmology and forces us to reconsider our previous assumptions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The journal Physical Review Letters published<\/a> the peer-reviewed<\/a> study on November 10, 2025.<\/p>\n

How do astronomers measure our solar system\u2019s speed?<\/p>\n

So, how can astronomers determine just how fast our solar system is moving? They do so by looking outside our galaxy. In this study, the astronomers focused on radio galaxies. These are galaxies that produce strong signals at radio wavelengths<\/a>. Radio waves can pass through obscuring dust that visible light can\u2019t penetrate.<\/p>\n

Due to the motion of the solar system through space, we see slightly more radio galaxies in our forward direction through space. These researchers referred to a headwind:<\/p>\n

\n

As the solar system moves through the universe, this motion produces a subtle \u2018headwind\u2019: slightly more radio galaxies appear in the direction of travel. The difference is tiny and can only be detected with extremely sensitive measurements.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Or think of a car. Just as you wouldn\u2019t judge a car\u2019s motion by looking inside the car but instead at objects outside the car, astronomers look outside our galaxy \u2013 at distant radio galaxies \u2013 to gauge our motion. As the \u201ccar\u201d (our solar system) moves forward, you see rain moving at your windshield (external radio galaxies) more easily than rain falling behind the car. This bias toward our direction of motion is what astronomers called a headwind of radio galaxies, which can be detected by sensitive-enough instruments as our solar system moves through space.<\/p>\n

For this study, astronomers used two radio observatories plus the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR<\/a>), which is a network of radio telescopes spread across Europe. With these data, the scientists made the first-ever precise count of radio galaxies and their distribution.<\/p>\n

\"ALukas B\u00f6hme<\/a> of Bielefeld University is the lead author of the new study. Image via ResearchGate<\/a>.
\nWhat did they find?<\/p>\n

Their results showed an unequal distribution of radio galaxies. The deviation from what they expected to what they saw was more than 5 sigma<\/a>. This is scientist-speak for something that is statistically significant and not a matter of chance. In fact, the unequal distribution of radio galaxies was 3.7 times stronger than what the standard model of the universe predicts.<\/p>\n

How does the standard model of cosmology factor in to the results? The standard model of cosmology \u2013 aka the lambda cold dark matter model<\/a> \u2013 is scientists\u2019 best idea of how our universe works. One of its assumptions is that matter is distributed relatively equally wherever you look. Co-author Dominik J. Schwarz<\/a> of Bielefeld University said: <\/p>\n

\n

If our solar system is indeed moving this fast, we need to question fundamental assumptions about the large-scale structure of the universe. Alternatively, the distribution of radio galaxies itself may be less uniform than we have believed. In either case, our current models are being put to the test.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"SolarAn illustration of our solar system, not to scale, which consists of our local star, the sun, several rocky or gaseous planets, plus an assortment of asteroids, comets and other small bodies. A new study said on November 13, 2025, that our solar system is moving through space more than 3 times faster than scientists knew or expected. Image via NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: A new study suggests that our solar system is moving three times faster than expected. The new result might conflict with the standard model of cosmology.<\/p>\n

Source: Overdispersed Radio Source Counts and Excess Radio Dipole Detection<\/a><\/p>\n

Via Bielefeld University<\/a><\/p>\n

Kelly Kizer Whitt
\n View Articles<\/a><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/p>\n

Kelly Kizer Whitt – EarthSky\u2019s nature and travel vlogger on YouTube – writes and edits some of the most fascinating stories at EarthSky.org. She’s been writing about science, with a focus on astronomy, for decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine and made regular contributions to other outlets, including AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club. She has nine published books, including a children’s picture book, Solar System Forecast, and a young adult dystopian novel, A Different Sky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This video shows our solar system moving through the galaxy. The view is from a hypothetical vantage of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[70,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-570462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115549684216341866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}