<p>What determines the Earth's orbital separation from the Sun is the total mass of the Sun and Earth, as described by Kepler's third law.</p>

<p>The orbital radius of the Earth is <em>increasing</em> because the Sun is gradually losing mass both by emitting radiation and through the solar wind at a rate of around 5 million tonnes per second (e.g. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/0801.3807" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Noerdlinger 2008</a>).</p>

<p>Any gain of mass through the accretion of dust or asteroids (by the Earth or Sun) is negligible by comparison.</p>

<p>This mass loss rate is only sufficient to widen the Earth's orbit by about 1.5 cm per year.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-23T20:17:25.470Z
[Christopher Springob](http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about-us/41-our-solar-system/the-earth/orbit/83-is-the-distance-from-the-earth-to-the-sun-changing-advanced) says the second largest effect is tidal, about $10^{-4}$ as large.
Keith McClary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-21T23:14:11.817Z
2018-01-21T23:14:11.817Z
ProfRob
<p>Is the Earth losing or gaining distance from the sun overall? Could asteroids over time add weight to the Earth and push it farther from the sun more than having a degrading orbit around the sun? Does asteroids and space dust increase the mass the the outer planets over sustaining or pulling the Earth from the Sun?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-22T17:23:36.477Z
related:https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/11958/are-planets-moving-away-from-the-sun
Muze
<orbit><earth><asteroids><mass><dust>
Is Earth losing orbit?
Muze
# Is Earth losing orbit?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-01-21)

Is the Earth losing or gaining distance from the sun overall? Could asteroids over time add weight to the Earth and push it farther from the sun more than having a degrading orbit around the sun? Does asteroids and space dust increase the mass the the outer planets over sustaining or pulling the Earth from the Sun?

**Tags:** orbit, earth, asteroids, mass, dust
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: related:https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/11958/are-planets-moving-away-from-the-sun  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-01-21. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

What determines the Earth's orbital separation from the Sun is the total mass of the Sun and Earth, as described by Kepler's third law.

The orbital radius of the Earth is *increasing* because the Sun is gradually losing mass both by emitting radiation and through the solar wind at a rate of around 5 million tonnes per second (e.g. [Noerdlinger 2008](https://arxiv.org/abs/0801.3807)).

Any gain of mass through the accretion of dust or asteroids (by the Earth or Sun) is negligible by comparison.

This mass loss rate is only sufficient to widen the Earth's orbit by about 1.5 cm per year.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: [Christopher Springob](http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about-us/41-our-solar-system/the-earth/orbit/83-is-the-distance-from-the-earth-to-the-sun-changing-advanced) says the second largest effect is tidal, about $10^{-4}$ as large.  

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