• Geek_King@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    With the Earth’s elliptical orbit, momentum would only get you so far in terms of sticking with the planet.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      34
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      relative to the galactic central point, per Eric Idle, the earth would be 200k/125 miles away in a single second, or relative to everything in the universe / background radiation, it would be 23,000 miles (37,000 km) away in a single second.

      Preserving momentum in different directions and you quickly double it

      Assuming an even rate of death, that’s just under 2 people dying per second currently, so you wouldn’t even be able to see the people who died before or after you if you retained human senses as a ghost.

    • LostXOR@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      3 months ago

      Even with a circular orbit, if you’re unbound by gravity you’ll follow a straight path while the Earth curves, resulting in it appearing to accelerate away from you.

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Yeah they would go flying off into space relative to earth but I was more referring to the idea that they’d somehow become stationary due to being immune to gravity. That wouldn’t be sufficient on its own.