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Why Do The Planets Orbit On The Same Ecliptic Plane?
By scruggs, Section Ask SciScoop Posted on Mon May 02, 2005 at 01:16:32 AM PST
Is there a reason that all of the planets orbit around the sun in the same direction and on the same plane? Would it be possible for another body to orbit perpendicular to our ecliptic plane?

Why Do The Planets Orbit On The Same Ecliptic Plane? | 6 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

Rotation of original cloud (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by SEWilco on Tue May 03, 2005 at 10:06:52 AM PST

The theory is that the original cloud of material out of which the Solar System was formed had some motion. As most of the material got pulled into the Sun, the spin increased in the direction of most of the motion. Of course the Sun got a lot of the spin, but in the material which did not end up in the Sun there were collisions and gravitational attraction which made most of the remaining cloud spin. Of course, material which did not have enough motion fell into the Sun. Gravitational attraction of this rotating disk would tend to pull nearby material toward it, disrupting other directions of motion. Once Jupiter and the other gas giants formed, their areas of gravitational influence disrupted almost all nearby motion in other directions. Anything not near the plane of the ecliptic is probably small and either outside Neptune's orbit or in sync with Jupiter's orbit.

The Solar System's plane of the ecliptic is probably related to the Milky Way's ecliptic, as most material in the area probably originated in the latter and tended to have similar motions.

Centrifugal Force? (1.00 / 1) (#4)
by DanTekGeek on Mon May 02, 2005 at 02:39:10 AM PST

IIRC it has something to do with centrifugal force of the same force that keeps a bicycle wheel spinning or something like that. Though why this applies in space, where there is no "ground" gravity, is beyond me.

No... by Anonymous, 05/03/2005 11:51:56 AM PST (none / 0)

Why Do The Planets Orbit On The Same Ecliptic Plane? | 6 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

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