The Earth as an Observatory

Our view of the Universe is complicated by the fact that we live on a planet that spins on its axis each day and which travels in circles around the Sun each year. The Earth’s rotation means that an observer on the equator is forever being carried around the Earth’s center at a speed of almost a 1,000 miles per hour. The Earth itself is forever hurtling around the Sun at a speed of almost 30 km/s. In turn, the Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way at a speed of around 220 km/s. The illusion that the Earth is stationary is a very convincing one, because everything around us is moving through space with us with exactly the same speed, rather like the furniture on an aircraft. But what is the effect of observing the Universe from the surface of a moving astronomical body?