In 2003 January, I asked a similar question in this list which was based
on a quotation from Fred Hoyle (translated from Finnish back to English :-)):
"Today [1973] we cannot claim in any physically meaningful sense that
Copernican theory [i.e. the Earth revolves around the Sun; not other way round]
would be right and Ptolemy's theory would be wrong. These two theories have no
difference whatsoever from the point of view of physics."
Interestingly, some years ago the same discussion appeared in a Finnish journal for advancement of science: a philosopher (phenomenologist with no background in academic physics) had a dispute on the Earth revolving around the Sun with a distinguished cosmology professor (well over 200 peer-reviewed publications in physics, many papers involving relativity). The physics professor provided an insightful analysis in terms of physics - well in line what John D. has said about the topic - and then explained *in what sense* he thinks that it is quite proper to say that the Earth revolves around the Sun: any observer approaching the solar system would see that the Earth revolves around the Sun. As for another example, sometimes cosmologists prefer to use a coordinate system attached to the microwave background radiation (interestingly, this is a kind of a privileged coordinate system in the Universe!); the Earth revolves around the Sun in this as well. He also pointed out that while the forces between the Sun and the Earth are symmetric, the accelerations due to the forces are not (the Sun in MUCH heavier than the Earth).
Of course, he stressed that you can choose any coordinate system to do physics you wish and that there is no "right" coordinate system, but there is a price to pay if choose unwisely.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his arguments did not convince the philosopher.
Regards,
Antti
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