Quirks and Quarks

Quirks & Questions: Does the reduced mass of the Sun have any effect on Earth's orbit?

You ask the question, we find the answer.
Does the reduced mass of the Sun have any effect of the Earth's orbit around it? (NASA/JPL)

William Cherry from Maple Ridge, B.C. asks "The Sun has been burning and depleting its hydrogen for billions of years.  Does this reduced mass have any effect on the orbit of the Earth around it?"  

Kaja Rotermund, a graduate student from the Physics Department at Dalhousie University says yes, but the effect is immeasurable because even though the sun's mass changing, it's negligible.  

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