I'm sorry if this has been talked about before, but every time I try to clarify this I just get more confused. Is Nirn IN a universe as we know it, or is it a lone planet somewhere, or what? I have read several articles and they all seem to contradict themselves in ways such as "The sun and the moons are not masses, but holes in Oblivion that show parts of Aetherius." Then a paragraph or so later it will say that Nirn orbits the sun and moons. How can Nirn orbit holes?

And when it comes to Oblivion, I have read that the planes are different dimensions, and that they are planets.

Pretty much what I'm asking for is somebody to explain to me the relation of Nirn, Oblivion, the sun and moons, and Aetherius. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Mundus is Nirn and is surrounded by the void of Oblivion which in turn is surrounded by Aetherius, all of this exists in the Aurbis created by the interplay of the cosmic forces of Anu and Padomay which exist in a void called Sithis (not the dark brotherhood Sithis, those guys were confused as hell about metaphysics). The sun and stars are holes through oblivion to Aetherius created when Magnus, the architect of Mundus, and other spirits fled creation. The planets are "bubbles" of infinite size suspended in Oblivion, they appear as they do to mortals due to mental stress in the mind of mortals who cannot properly see the body of a god. The moons are two pieces of the same sphere, believed to be the body of Lorkhan, and they orbit Nirn.

Nirn orbiting the sun could be explained with Einsteins theory of space-time. The sun is a hole punched through space-time, permanently deforming it and creating the curved space that Nirn orbits in. This is probably wrong but we don't know the specific mechanics so in the end it probably comes down to that the earth-bones did it, somehow.

The planes of Oblivion are planets, physically in the TES equivalent of outer space (Oblivion), but space is an illusion created by mortal minds so the distance between the planes and Nirn is undefined.

I would direct you to the Imperial Library's comprehensive article on cosmology, but it seems to be down.

Did you check out the pertinent sections of Lady N's stickied guide?

The TES universe is not like ours, but similarities can be drawn.

(Didact, I highly doubt that the explanation for Nirn's orbit involves Einsteinian space-time, but I guess it's the default position until we get some official info.)

I'm not sure what article that is, but that is incorrect. Anything in the sky orbiting (and the sky itself) only occurs in mortal perception. If anything, it all orbits around Nirn. Mundus is, essentially, the center of the universe.

And the Moons are not holes in Oblivion. Only the Sun and stars are.

http://imperial-library.info/content/cosmology And yes, its not exactly easy to get your mind around. Our world has similarly weird phenomena once you get into complex physics, in TES its just a bit closer to the surface.

Thank you all for the help, I'm starting to understand it now.