Solar system orientation compared to the Milky Way's spin

[willpittenger]

We know that planets tend to rotate and orbit in the same plane as their star spins. Ditto for moons vs. their planet. But what about entire solar system and the Milky Way's rotation? Is there a correlation there?

 

[3488]

We know that planets tend to rotate and orbit in the same plane as their star spins. Ditto for moons vs. their planet. But what about entire solar system and the Milky Way's rotation? Is there a correlation there?

Hi willpittenger.

IIRC from the north the Milky Way & our Solar System's orbit around the galactic centre move in a clockwise direction, i.e the opposite way to the spin of our Sun & the solar system (counterclockwase as viewed from the north).

Also the solar system is tilted by approx 50 degrees to the plane of the galaxy, the Earth's rotational axis by approx 70 degrees, Mars's is on it's side with respect to the galactic plane (the Martian celestial poles are against the Milky Way in Cygnus & Vela respectively).

Andrew Brown.

 

[willpittenger]

What about known extra-solar systems? We need a bigger sample size.

 

[Boris_Badenov]

This National Geografic Map of the Galaxy shows how the Solar System is oriented in relation to the Milky Way. It is at the top center of the map.
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/shop ... iewcount=1

edit, hey, I got it to show it when you click on the link. Cool!!!

 

[Boris_Badenov]

This page helps understand how we are oriented in relation to the Galaxy as a whole too.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/fener ... C.html#top

 

[willpittenger]

1. FYI: The NatGeo image is actually a poster they are trying to sell. So they present it in a little tiny flash app. You have to zoom way in and scroll to see everything.
2. Neither talks about the orientation of extra-solar systems.

 

[eburacum45]

Only a few planetary systems have orientations which have been accurately measured; they seem to lie at random with respect to each other and with respect to the plane of the galaxy.The same is true of binary stars.

This is because the formation of stars and planets is a chaotic process, and the end results are random.