Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: neilep on 09/08/2021 18:37:33

Title: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: neilep on 09/08/2021 18:37:33
Dearest People Who Know Stuff,


As a Sheepy i of course know sod-all about solar systems.....I mean, I know my neighbour has an array of solar system panels on his roof which I covered in black paint as a kind gesture.....(hmmm...he still needs to thank me !!)



Take a look at OUR solar system which is drawn to scale and very accurate in every way !



(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/hqY6eA62MdeWplx6XitEPNS1fRIYVPPBZauPVzt8GqQY4NVJKZOlthEbCa-b2RBqPjM6I1GyhkzVzUD9tdkfmb5rE0NK55HyhhBSpfhIjEolJ6p_rKn6JVjB3hGfD502oPkNHt_pDxs=w2400)
Our Solar System Which Is Drawn To scale And Accurate In Every way Just Moments Ago



Is it the norm for our solar system to spin clockwise ? The planets do (well maybe not Uranus). Do other solar systems spin clockwise ? The Galaxy ? Other galaxies ? Does the Universe spin ? and if it does........clockwise ?




Is left to right predominant ? even clocks tick that way don't they ? Who decided that clocks should function left to right ?


whajafink ?

Hugs


Neil
xxxxxxx










Is left to right considered the norm ?
Do we know or are we torn ?
Between left to right and right to left ?
Cos either way it's rather deft





Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Bored chemist on 09/08/2021 18:41:50
The hands of a clock go anticlockwise.
Ask the mouse who lives inside the clock if you don't believe me.
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: neilep on 09/08/2021 18:46:11
The hands of a clock go anticlockwise.
Ask the mouse who lives inside the clock if you don't believe me.


I asked the mouse.....he referred me to the cuckoo....unfortunately I don't speak 'Cuckoo' !!   ;)
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Halc on 09/08/2021 19:44:34
Is it the norm for our solar system to spin clockwise ?
All depends on which side you decide to look at it. Yes, we usually show the side in your picture because most of the people live on that side, so this helps them feel like they're right side up.
Other solar systems, car wheels, galaxies etc all spin, and which way depends on the side you decide to look at it. Since the spins are effectively random, if you look at a random galaxy (or solar system) in the sky, odds are 50-50 which way it will appear to spin to you. Andromeda for instance, the galaxy that is most prominent in our sky, spins counterclockwise from our point of view.

Quote
The planets do (well maybe not Uranus).
Uranus orbits the same way as the others. It's spin (and especially that of Venus) is a different way than normal.

Quote
Does the Universe spin ?
The universe, not being a thing with finite size, cannot have a meaningful angular velocity, so no, it doesn't.

Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 11/08/2021 14:14:38
But does the rotation of the galaxy have an effect on the rotation of the solar system? Are we side on, are we  coplaner with the galaxy and rotating backwards?
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Halc on 11/08/2021 16:44:42
But does the rotation of the galaxy have an effect on the rotation of the solar system? Are we side on, are we  coplaner with the galaxy and rotating backwards?
Not particularly, no.

The plane of the galaxy (yellow) meets the plane of the solar system (red) at an angle of just over 60 degrees.
Here a diagram of both, with the celestial plane (the blue plane passing through our equator) also included.
(https://i.stack.imgur.com/DxYk1.jpg)
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 11/08/2021 20:33:27
Not particularly, no.

The plane of the galaxy (yellow) meets the plane of the solar system (red) at an angle of just over 60 degrees.
Here a diagram of both, with the celestial plane (the blue plane passing through our equator) also included.
(https://i.stack.imgur.com/DxYk1.jpg)
What is the celestial plane Halc, I did Google it, but it came up with 7 or 12 planes all of a spiritual nature.
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Halc on 11/08/2021 20:49:58
What is the celestial plane Halc, I did Google it, but it came up with 7 or 12 planes all of a spiritual nature.
Heh... I got the same useless search results on my first try.
I said it was the plane that passes through the entire Earth's equator. In other words, it is defined by the spin of the planet. The ecliptic plane is defined by the orbit of Earth about the sun. If we lived on Uranus, these two would be about 90° apart. But we're on Earth and so it's 23.4°.
The galactic plane seems to not be based on the orbit of our solar system about the galaxy (which isn't a particularly elliptic or even flat path) but rather the general vector of the rotation of the galaxy as a whole.
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 11/08/2021 22:44:59
What is the celestial plane Halc, I did Google it, but it came up with 7 or 12 planes all of a spiritual nature.
Heh... I got the same useless search results on my first try.
I said it was the plane that passes through the entire Earth's equator. In other words, it is defined by the spin of the planet. The ecliptic plane is defined by the orbit of Earth about the sun. If we lived on Uranus, these two would be about 90° apart. But we're on Earth and so it's 23.4°.
The galactic plane seems to not be based on the orbit of our solar system about the galaxy (which isn't a particularly elliptic or even flat path) but rather the general vector of the rotation of the galaxy as a whole.
Sorry Halc, I will try and read posts more carefully.

Further to it, why is our star not orbiting on the galactic plane? I imagine it is to do with sub rotation of star groups within the galaxy's Arms? If so does this line up with the solar system plane? Or is there no correlation between the solar system planar orbit and its surroundings?
Title: Re: Is clockwise the predominant direction for solar systems and galaxies ?
Post by: Halc on 12/08/2021 01:11:52
why is our star not orbiting on the galactic plane?
Nice neat orbits only work around spherical/point masses, where things further out (Mars) orbit slower than things further in (Earth). The mass of the galaxy is laid out more on a plane where none of the Keplerian laws apply. Things sometimes move faster further out, and the motion is always in and out of the galactic plane since the plane attracts more than does the dense part at the middle. So we go round about every 220 million years, but go north and south with a period of about a third that.

Quote
I imagine it is to do with sub rotation of star groups within the galaxy's Arms?
We don't move with the arms. The arms pass though us. They're essentially density waves. No star this far out moves with them, else their speed would fling them from the galaxy.

Quote
Or is there no correlation between the solar system planar orbit and its surroundings?
If you look at all the stars around us with planets with measurable inclinations, it is pretty much random. I don't think we're gravitationally bound to any star or group, which means our nearest neighbors are always changing.
Our orientation is more a function of the supernova from which most of our heavy material came, plus its interaction with existing interstellar material, which is more the lighter elements.