Why are all the planets portrayed as being on the same plane when models are depicted of the solar system? Is this accurate? Do all of the planets revolve around the sun on the same plane and if so why?
2006-11-06 05:39:13 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Our Solar System started out as a big amorphous cloud of gas and dust. This cloud was spinning ever so slightly - probably imperceptibly so. The cloud collapsed due to gravity, and our Sun formed at the center, where it was densest and hottest.
As the cloud collapsed, it formed a disk (the accretion disk others have mentioned) because it was spinning - if there was no spin to begin with, it would have collapsed into a sphere. Anything big that is spinning, as it gets smaller it spins faster (try it yourself - sit on a chair that swivels, spin around with your feet off the ground and your arms stretched out, then pull your arms in close to your body and you'll spin faster). So that imperceptible spin of the original cloud became the much faster spin of the accretion disk.
Eventually planets formed in the accretion disk, that's why the planets all orbit the Sun in the same direction and in almost the same plane. In fact, that's also why most of the planets spin on their axes in the same direction, and why most of the moons of the planets orbit in that same direction - counter-clockwise.
2006-11-06 06:49:13 · answer #1 · answered by kris 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes they do and this is a big clue as to how the Solar System formed. The evidence points toward the Solar System forming from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust. As it got smaller it rotated faster (think about an ice skater spinning faster as she brings her arms in closer to her body) and the material formed into a rotating disk. The planets formed from this disk and continue to orbit the Sun in the same plane and in the same direction as the disk was spinning.
2006-11-06 07:14:14 · answer #2 · answered by Faeldaz M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With the exception of pluto (not considered a planted now anyway) the rest of the planets do orbit pretty much within the same plane. This is because they all formed out of the same accretion disk that was orbiting the sun when it began to form.
The links have more info.
2006-11-06 05:50:47 · answer #3 · answered by Jared Z 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yep, they do. It's because the planets formed from an accretion disk that was left around our Sun after it formed. The disk was spinning, and as the planets accreted from the disk, they were still in the disk and going the same direction.
2006-11-06 06:05:40 · answer #4 · answered by eri 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The planes of orbit are close to each other, but are off by a few degrees. Why is complicated--the answer in a nutshell is gravity.
2006-11-06 05:48:30 · answer #5 · answered by wayfaroutthere 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋