Question: Is it possible for the earth to stop rotating around the sun?

Sarah Martin answered on 20 Jun 2012:

Hi aleks727!

It sure is – but not on its own, it’ll need to be pushed off orbit. There are three events in which this might happen, far in the future!
– Within one million years, the hypergiant Eta Carinae, which is 7500 light years from the Sun, may go hypernova and explode, taking Earth with it
– In 1.4 million years Gliese 710 will be only 1.1 light years from Earth and might send a catastrophic comet shower our way, knocking us off orbit
– In about 3 billion years, our Milky Way galaxy is expected to collide with the Andromeda galaxy. Collisions of individual planets is unlikely, but the chances are that everything will be mixed up and Earth thrown off orbit
– In 5 billion years the Sun will turn into a “red giant” star as it runs out of fuel inside. It will expand and maybe engulf Earth…

But this is all a very very long way in the future! To put it into perspective, the universe has existed for just over 13 billion years, Earth for just over 4 billion years, and the human race as we know it for only about 200 thousand years. The ancient Egyptians lived 5,000 years ago and photograps have only existed for about 150 years… so peanuts really!

🙂 Sarah