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If "all the planets rotate in the same direction" because they picked up that momentum from the original cloud, then what happened to Venus? Why does it spin th
by DougWebb 16y ago
If "all the planets rotate in the same direction" because they picked up that momentum from the original cloud, then what happened to Venus? Why does it spin the other way?
This theory picks out one radius, where the belt is, as special. I wonder if it can account for the stable orbits of the other planets too. They're oddly regular. I've always wondered if their arrangement is related in any way to the arrangement of electron shells around atoms, which are also very regular becauuse of the electron energy states.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- iwr 16y agoWhile retrograde, it's only "weakly" so in that it has a very slow rotation period (1 solar year == 2 solar days).
- kyleslattery 16y agoI think the general theory on Venus is that there was an impact with another body that caused it to start rotating the other way, albeit weakly. Interestingly enough, astronomy textbooks don't usually refer to Venus as rotating the other way. Rather, they say that it is flipped 180 degrees, which as a result means it rotates the other way.