Solar System barycenter - Orbit of planets

[D H]

I am meaning, according to the best available JPL ephemerides, the planets influence on the Earth Sun distance is tiny, compared to the very large differences that would be created by (in lay persons terms) 'orbiting the solar system barycenter'.

That "in lay person's term" is the heart of the problem with this thread. You are interpreting "orbiting the barycenter" in terms of Keplerian orbits. People who say that the bodies in the solar system orbit the solar system barycenter are not talking about Keplerian orbits.

 

[ianchristie]

I do love a circular (elliptical) argument!

 

[Andrew1955]

That "in lay person's term" is the heart of the problem with this thread. You are interpreting "orbiting the barycenter" in terms of Keplerian orbits. People who say that the bodies in the solar system orbit the solar system barycenter are not talking about Keplerian orbits.

>>You are interpreting "orbiting the barycenter" in terms of Keplerian orbits.

Wrong. I am interpreting it as meaning the Earth Sun distance will vary by up to to 2 million kms due to the influence of the planets. Nothing like this is observed to be happening at all.

>>People who say that the bodies in the solar system orbit the solar system barycenter are not talking about Keplerian orbits.

For my purposes there are two types of people that I need to consider:

Type 1. This type is utterly confused and has no idea of what they are talking about other than they think the SSBC has some magic abilities to cause all objects to gravitate towards it.

Type 2. This type is the kind of person you are talking about when you say "People who say that the bodies in the solar system orbit the solar system barycenter are not talking about Keplerian orbits"

If my audience had people of type 2 in it I would not have come to physics forum. I needed a method to calculate the effect of the planets gravity upon Earth so I could know by what amount the Earth Sun distance could vary as caused by the planets gravity. I now know from my calculation that in terms of the huge Earth Sun distance the amount the planets change the path of the Earth, in terms of the Earth Sun distance, is very small.

If you are challenging me on the Earth Sun distance you need to provide a reference.