In all imagaic representations I have seen of our solar system, the planets are all essentially on the same line. (eg. http://www.ioncmaste.ca/homepage/resources/web_resources/CSA_Astro9/files/images/unit4/solar_system.jpg).
Is this true, or are orbits going all over the place? And if it is true, is this defined by the sun's 'north' and 'south' magnetic poles... how does the sun's magnetism affect the shape of our solar system? Are gravity fields linked to magnetic fields?
2007-11-21 06:40:12 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
that link again - http://www.ioncmaste.ca/homepage/resources/web_resources/CSA_Astro9/files/images/unit4/solar_system.jpg
2007-11-21 06:42:35 · update #1
The reason why all the planets lie on a plane is because when the sun first formed, gas and dust were sucked into the sun because of it's gravity, which imparted angular momentum on the sun and started it spinning. This formed a disk around the new sun which eventually coalesced into the planets we see today.
2007-11-21 06:58:43 · answer #1 · answered by straightshooter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The solar system evolved from a big disk of material. Clumps of material within this disk are what became the planets.
The orbital planes' of the planets differ slightly, but are within... I think it's 18 degrees of each other, as you'd expect. They aren't perfectly lined up, nor are they 'all over the place.'
The sun rotates, but it doesn't have true magnetic poles - it has tremendous local areas of magnetism, but no true 'poles' like that of a bar magnet, or even the Earth.
Magnetism and Gravity have very little to do with each other.
2007-11-21 06:45:29 · answer #2 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All the planets are close to being in the same plane. Not exactly, but close. The plane of Earth's orbit is called the ecliptic and all planets are within a few degrees of that. Comets do not stay in that same plane though. They can have orbits that go well "up" and "down". It has nothing to do with magnetic poles, but the Sun rotates on its axis just like Earth does, and that axis is perpendicular to the ecliptic. The Earth's pole is not pointed straight "up" though. It is tilted 23 degrees which is what causes the seasons.
I put "up" and "down" in quotes because it isn't really the same as up and down on Earth. But you can kind of think of it as up and down, or at least north and south.
2007-11-21 06:44:35 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since no one can truly yet explain HOW Gravity or Magnetism works, it is arrogant to assume that they have absolutely nothing in common. There may be a link, but we just don't know it yet. Even Einstein couldn't explain it, either.
As to up or down....are we, in the USA, "up" as compared to Australia, which is "down" under? It depends on your point of view. The stars you see on the north side of the equator are different than those on the southern side. But since this is a very north-equator-centric world, I rarely see any star charts for the southern hemisphere, but I'm sure they exist. So up or down has no real meaning, other than for pure reference uses. So it goes with the solar system.
- The Gremlin Guy -
2007-11-21 15:38:45 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋