does our solar system have a north?

Question

is north the direction perpendicular to the plane the sun and earth is on, or is north the direction to the north star? and which way is west? winter?

Answer 1

Hmm, thinking about this, I suppose you COULD define directions in the solar system similar to how they are defined on Earth. North and South would be perpendicular to the orbital plane. To differentiate North from South, North would be the "up" direction when the planets are circling the sun counterclockwise.

Now, for East and West: On our planet, East and West are actually circular directions, with East being the counterclockwise direction. So, in the solar system, it'd make sense to call East the counterclockwise direction in the oribital plane, while West would be the clockwise direction.

No, I've never actually heard North, South, East, and West defined in a solar system context, but there is certainly no reason why it couldn't be done. Hey, if you get lost looking for some asteroid and have to stop and ask directions, you'd need some convention, wouldn't you? :)

Answer 2

First, the earth is inclined at about 23.5 degrees to the plane of its orbit (hence our seasons). Since the north star is over our north pole, it isn't perpendicular to the plane of the solar system.

You could speak of "north" and "south" as being directions perpendicular to the solar system's plane, but it would be an arbitrary thing which direction you choose to be north.

Note also that space is three-dimensional, so if we did have some kind of a spatial compass direction system, it would require three axes: A north-south axis, an east-west axis, and a third axis perpendicular to the other two. Our earthly maps are, of course, two-dimensional.

Answer 3

The Motion of the Sun and the earth are related to the motion of the celestial sphere which has a north and south the east is clock wise and the west counterclock wise.The Sun moves with the plane of the Ecliptic with the earth. The north pole orientation of the earth lines up with the north star.The ecliptic is 23.5 degree from the north star and it measures the relative tilt of the earth's spin.The seasons on earth are related to the rotation of the celestial sphere relative to +or - 23.5 degrees.of the sun's rays angle.

Answer 4

No. North is a term we use objectively on Earth. Once you leave Earth, North, South, East, and West have no meaning. There is no up or down or left or right for that matter. You must use coordinates to plot a point in a three dimensional plane.

Answer 5

North is just an idea. If civilization started in the Earth's south, everything there would be North and vice versa. So when you look into space, you might say North or East or whatever but in reality, North is just our idea.

Answer 6

Not technically, I suppose you could say North is "up" from the plane, but there is no East or West.

Normally North and South is only when there is a pole (magnetic)

Answer 7

no. north is a diraction on a map or a point in a magnetic field .