which way are we going & what is up & down ?

Question

i have a reasonable understanding of space but always find myself trying to work out which way is what ...earth,moon galaxy (clockwise, anticlockwise-wise),if you know what i mean.

Answer 1

Everything is relative to he observer, or relative to some accepted point of reference.

On Earth we call the ground "down" by convention. So everything we can see in space is "up." But what about the stuff in space in back of the planet on which we stand? Is that "down" until we turn on our axis and it's "up" again?

Gravity is sometimes used as an indicator. Stuff falls "down." However, in space there's not one source of gravity to effectively establish that frame of reference. So, if you're floating around the space station... as your do somersaults, ''up" and "down" at least for you can be constantly changing.,

You mentioned the direction of rotation of our galaxy. From one perspective we're rotating clockwise. But to the other half of the universe, we're spinning counter-clockwise.

Since the universe is infinite, it has no "bottom," "top," "front," "back," "right" or "left, "You can pretty much call it whatever you like. Maybe,in space, the convention will be to point in a direction and say, "Thataway."

Answer 2

It's ALL "relative" (and you don't have to be Einstein to know that :-) )

Specifically .. 'down' means 'in the direction of the (net) local gravity field' .. so on the Earths North Pole, 'down' means towards the South.. but stand on the South Pole and 'down' means towards the North ... (up is the reverse of down)

clockwise, anticlockwise-wise thus depend on your point of view

Go look at a Church Clock tower .. looking up from the outside, the hands are moving in a clockwise direction ... but if you are standing behind the clock face (eg. inside the tower) then the hands are moving anti-clockwise ..

Answer 3

Before you can determine any of those directions you've got to have some point of reference. For example, if you were far off in space and looking "down" at the sun's north pole the planets would be moving counter clockwise. Looking "up" at the sun's south pole the planets would move clockwise.

Answer 4

There is no "down" or "up" in space except how we choose to define it.

However, scientists define "north" in space a specific way.
When you are above a planet, moon, or star, the "north" pole is the one where the planet or star appears to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction.
On that planet or moon, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
If you go above the north pole of the galactic centre, the whole galaxy rotates in a counter-clockwise direction.

But that is just a human convention - it isn't a natural condition of the universe.
Objects in space rotate in any direction, in any orientation. Defining "north" and therefore "east", "west", and "south" are only for our own convenience.

Answer 5

Looking down from the North, the Earth and almost everything in the solar system is going around counterclockwise.

The solar system is really tilted with respect to the Galaxy---the galactic plane comes fairly close to north and south celestial poles of the Earth. But the "north galactic pole" is in the northern hemisphere (in the constellation Coma Berenices, north of Virgo), and looking down from that direction, almost everything in the Milky Way (including the Sun) is going around clockwise. The direction to the Galactic center is in Sagitarius, and the whole solar system is orbiting the galactic center by moving in the direction of Cygnus.

Answer 6

In space there is no up or down, different bodies have different rotational depending on the rotation of the discs they formed from and the direction taken by the first particles of debris that began the formation of the bodies, it would be a hit and miss thing as far as being clockwise or counterclockwise. Outside of that, most clusters are moving away from each other as space expands.

Answer 7

Earth is spining counterclockwise if we take North like "up" and South like "down". The whole Solar System is spining clockwise. The whole Milky Way is spining counterclockwise.

There is not up and down in the Universe; however, we humans have the need to situate ourselves into space and time, thus, conventionally, up is at the North and down is at the South. Nonetheless, up could mean towards above from our heads and down could mean towards below our feets if we are in a posture perpendicular to the surface of Earth.

Answer 8

anticlockwise? its counter clockwise...and in space there is no direction. north, south, east, and west require a magnetic field, and up, down, left, and right rely completely on the reference point.

in space directions are basically useless. they will just tell the direction of something by the constellation its around usually.

Answer 9

Well, we normally base planets with a magnetic field on the direction of magnetic pull, with north being up. If I remember correctly, the earth, from that point of view is going clockwise around the sun.
Up at any other given point in the universe is normally defined as the direction radiating outward from the center of the celesital body having the greatest gravitational force upon oneself at any given time.
With the star in our solar system also having a magnetic field (which if I'm thinking correctly is inverse from the direction of our magnetic field, in other words, our north is towards Sol's south), if you think of it in that regards, then the Earth is upside down and we are travelling counterclockwise.
Using the Milky Way Galaxy as a reference point, I believe we are actually on our side.
As you can see, it all depends on your point of view and what you're basing your refence point on.

Answer 10

There is no up, down, left, or right in space.