Motion of Planets

I believe planets all rotate (orbit the sun) antoclockwise viewed from above
(above the
earth's north pole)

It looks to me that earth also revolves anti clockwise (looking from above)
around its own axis.

But do all the other planets, eg does Saturn, revolve anti clockwise
(looking from above) around their own axis? (I'm especially interested in
Saturn).

Cheers,

Alex Kudrasev.

"Alex Kudrasev" wrote in message ...
I believe planets all rotate (orbit the sun) antoclockwise viewed from above
(above the
earth's north pole)

It looks to me that earth also revolves anti clockwise (looking from above)
around its own axis.

But do all the other planets, eg does Saturn, revolve anti clockwise
(looking from above) around their own axis? (I'm especially interested in
Saturn).

All planets except for Venus rotate counter-clockwise as seen from
the north. Venus rotates clockwise around its own axis, and it rotates
*very* slowly -- its day is longer than its year.

Also, Uranus is so far tilted to the plane of the solar system that it
effectively rolls on its side as it orbits the sun.

Saturn rotates counterclockwise like all the other planets except Venus.

RickW

"Rick" wrote in message
...
"Alex Kudrasev" wrote in message
...
I believe planets all rotate (orbit the sun) antoclockwise viewed from
above
(above the
earth's north pole)

It looks to me that earth also revolves anti clockwise (looking from
above)
around its own axis.

But do all the other planets, eg does Saturn, revolve anti clockwise
(looking from above) around their own axis? (I'm especially interested
in
Saturn).

All planets except for Venus rotate counter-clockwise as seen from
the north. Venus rotates clockwise around its own axis, and it rotates
*very* slowly -- its day is longer than its year.

Also, Uranus is so far tilted to the plane of the solar system that it
effectively rolls on its side as it orbits the sun.

Saturn rotates counterclockwise like all the other planets except Venus.

RickW


Thanks Rick,

So effectively the outer planets counteract their solar orbit with their
spin as seen from earth. In Saturn & Jupiter's (& etc??) case it's almost
the same velocity.

Interesting.

Thanks again,
Alex Kudrasev.

"Alex Kudrasev" wrote...
in message ...

"Rick" wrote in message
...

All planets except for Venus rotate counter-clockwise as seen from
the north. Venus rotates clockwise around its own axis, and it rotates
*very* slowly -- its day is longer than its year.

Also, Uranus is so far tilted to the plane of the solar system that it
effectively rolls on its side as it orbits the sun.

Saturn rotates counterclockwise like all the other planets except Venus.

RickW

Thanks Rick,

So effectively the outer planets counteract their solar orbit with their
spin as seen from earth. In Saturn & Jupiter's (& etc??) case it's almost
the same velocity.

Interesting.

Thanks again,
Alex Kudrasev.

Not sure what you mean by "counteract their solar orbit with
their spin..." Alex. It sounds like you may find the following
link about "spin isochronism" interesting.

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-345/ch9.htm

You'll find it beginning near the bottom of the web page.

hth

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
The Flow! The Flow!
The Flow ain't goin' slow,
The Flow is goin' faster than
I really want to go.

The Flow! the Flow!
I must go with The Flow,
The Flow is where I want to be--
NOT on the sandy sho'.

NObody wants to feel...

ALL WASHED UP

Paine Ellsworth

"Rick" wrote in message
Venus rotates clockwise around its own axis,

Ya know? I've always been kinda proud of the amount of minutia I've stored
about astronomy and especially the solar system. I can tell my little boy
something about nearly every bright object in the sky. Somehow, I have
never heard this little fact before.

Question is, how can this be explained? Some sort of massive collision
after Venus coalesced would be my only guess. It HAD to have started out
rotating the same as all other planets.

What happened?

--
Jim Fisher

"Jim Fisher" wrote in message ...
"Rick" wrote in message
Venus rotates clockwise around its own axis,

Ya know? I've always been kinda proud of the amount of minutia I've stored
about astronomy and especially the solar system. I can tell my little boy
something about nearly every bright object in the sky. Somehow, I have
never heard this little fact before.

Question is, how can this be explained? Some sort of massive collision
after Venus coalesced would be my only guess. It HAD to have started out
rotating the same as all other planets.

What happened?

Currently the most popular theories are one major collision or many
minor collisions unevenly distributed on one side of the planet, or
atmospheric tides.

RickW

In message ,
Painius writes
"Jim Fisher" wrote...
in message ...

"Rick" wrote in message
Venus rotates clockwise around its own axis,

Ya know? I've always been kinda proud of the amount of minutia I've stored
about astronomy and especially the solar system. I can tell my little boy
something about nearly every bright object in the sky. Somehow, I have
never heard this little fact before.

Question is, how can this be explained? Some sort of massive collision
after Venus coalesced would be my only guess. It HAD to have started out
rotating the same as all other planets.

What happened?

--
Jim Fisher

'Lo Jim --

The collision theory is a possibility to be sure, but the evidence
does not really support it. One would expect a more radical
change such as the rotation angle of Uranus.

The best theory is the tidal locking with the Sun. Mercury's
rotation is similarly slow like Venus', and yet Mercury is still
rotating in a prograde manner. While scientists don't seem to
particularly like this theory for Venus (for some reason they
don't think it explains why Venus would be slowly rotating in
a retrograde manner), i think it's perfectly natural for a tidal
locking to include brief oscillations between pro- and retro-
grade rotations before the final locking takes place.

We are probably just now viewing Venus in a (relatively)
brief phase of retrograde rotation before it eventually locks in
to its period of revolution around the Sun.

I'm sure this one's been thrashed out here and elsewhere before
(probably with the same participants !) but doesn't that involve some
sort of acceleration, which is hard to explain. Where does the energy
come from?
The "new kid on the block" is atmospheric tides, as Rick noted. There's
some sort of interaction between Venus's thick and fast-moving
atmosphere and the solar wind, IIRC.
I like the idea of some sort of interaction with Earth, because of the
commensurabilities of Venus and Earth motions, but that's also
unpopular. Again, it's hard to think of a mechanism.
--
"Roads in space for rockets to travel....four-dimensional roads, curving with
relativity"
Mail to jsilverlight AT merseia.fsnet.co.uk is welcome.
Or visit Jonathan's Space Site http://www.merseia.fsnet.co.uk

In message , Steven Gray
writes
Jonathan Silverlight wrote in
:

We are probably just now viewing Venus in a (relatively)
brief phase of retrograde rotation before it eventually locks in
to its period of revolution around the Sun.

I'm sure this one's been thrashed out here and elsewhere before
(probably with the same participants !) but doesn't that involve some
sort of acceleration, which is hard to explain. Where does the energy
come from?

Actually it involves a loss of energy. As a planet (moon, whatever)
rotates, it's distorted by tidal forces. The direction of the distortions
relative to the "fixed" surface of the planet is constantly changing,
causing things to rub together. Energy is dissipated as heat.


True, but once the planet is locked with one face to the sun, what
causes the rotation to go the other way? That's why I like the idea of a
"flipped" planet which hasn't yet reached tidal lock.
--
"Roads in space for rockets to travel....four-dimensional roads, curving with
relativity"
Mail to jsilverlight AT merseia.fsnet.co.uk is welcome.
Or visit Jonathan's Space Site http://www.merseia.fsnet.co.uk

"Steven Gray" wrote in message
Actually it involves a loss of energy. As a planet (moon, whatever)
rotates, it's distorted by tidal forces. The direction of the distortions
relative to the "fixed" surface of the planet is constantly changing,
causing things to rub together. Energy is dissipated as heat.

Sounds somewhat logical, Stephen, but I don't really buy that scenario. If
that were the case I would think any of the gas giants would have a
retrograde rotation. They have a helluva lot more tidal and frictional
forces (between themselves and the sun, and between the varying levels of
atmosphere) that Venus could ever dream of. I would think the Earth would
be even more affected with a moon a quarter the size of the planet from
which it formed.

However, you speak as if your thoughts are supported by more than just
speculation. Do you have anything to base this theory upon?

--
Jim Fisher

"Jim Fisher" wrote in
news
"Steven Gray" wrote in message
Actually it involves a loss of energy. As a planet (moon, whatever)
rotates, it's distorted by tidal forces. The direction of the
distortions relative to the "fixed" surface of the planet is
constantly changing, causing things to rub together. Energy is
dissipated as heat.

Sounds somewhat logical, Stephen, but I don't really buy that scenario.
If that were the case I would think any of the gas giants would have a
retrograde rotation. They have a helluva lot more tidal and frictional
forces (between themselves and the sun, and between the varying levels
of atmosphere) that Venus could ever dream of. I would think the Earth
would be even more affected with a moon a quarter the size of the
planet from which it formed.

However, you speak as if your thoughts are supported by more than just
speculation. Do you have anything to base this theory upon?

My old college text, _Exploration of the Universe_, George Abell, p. 175,
226-227. I think it's pretty well accepted theory. As for the gas giants,
keep in mind that tidal effects drop off quickly as you move away from the
primary. Your remarks about the Earth-moon system are well taken. The
rotation of the moon has already been locked to its period of revolution
around the Earth, and the Earth's rotation is slowing down very gradually.

There may be some misunderstanding about what I wrote. I meant to address
the issue of how rotational locking occurs. I did not mean to address the
issue of how Venus' rotation came to be retro-grade.


--
Steve Gray