3 ms·

Looking at it from above, wouldn’t one way be a clockwise rotation, and the other be a counterclockwise rotation?

• retsibsi 5y ago
  Depends on which 'above' you're looking from though, right? (edit: that wasn't meant to be obnoxiously rhetorical, just to signal that I might be messing up the visualisation myself.) If the planet is rotating around the axis from pole to pole, then from above one pole (or anywhere that side of the equator) the rotation will appear clockwise, from above the other pole it will appear anticlockwise, and from directly above the equator it will just be 'left' or 'right' (or forward or back) depending on your orientation. edit: perhaps from directly above the equator you would still consider the spin to be clockwise or anticlockwise -- but which one would depend on your orientation.
  • mcphage 5y ago
    I would suggest using whatever we consider North for the sun—individually, what way is up doesn't matter, all that matters is we use the same direction for the whole solar sytem.
• SamBam 5y ago
  The issue is what is "above." Using the elliptic plane is a fine answer, but is just a convention.
  • mcphage 5y ago
    I guess, for above I'd use whatever we consider "North" for the sun.