Why Dont the Planets Orbit the Solar Equator?

[Berzerker]

I've read the the sun is tilted a bit over 7 degrees to the ecliptic, but the solar equator should reflect the tilt of the collapsing nebula so why are the planets out of whack?

[Kuciwalker]

**** happens. The Moon doesn't orbit the Earth's equator either, IIRC.

[Berzerker]

the moon was supposedly created by a collision between Earth and a large object, why dont the planets follow equatorial orbits? Were they all struck by objects large enough to push them out of their natural orbits, including the Earth? The plane of the ecliptic should be very close to the solar equator but its 7 degrees off. Only Mercury appears to orbit the solar equator, all the other planets were, or are being dragged off the solar or nebular plane. Isn't that evidence of an object(s) originally not part of the nebula interfering with the orbits of the planets?

[Proteus_MST]

The planets found it boring to just orbit the equatorial plane and therefore they decided to orbit other planes

Well, I assume the solar system in the beginning was a chaotic system, with the gravitations of the protoplanets influencing each other and also extrasolar objects (other stars for example) exerting gravitational influence (which, even if small, might still be significant in the range of milions/billions of years).
So that only after millions/billions of years the orbits stabilized into the orbits we know today.
This would also explain why only mercury as planet closest to sun (and therefore being the planet who is the most influenced by suns gravity) has the orbit with the least inclination.

[Zkribbler]

Re: Why Dont the Planets Orbit the Solar Equator?

Originally posted by Berzerker
I've read the the sun is tilted a bit over 7 degrees to the ecliptic, but the solar equator should reflect the tilt of the collapsing nebula so why are the planets out of whack?

Did it ever occur to you that maybe the planets are in the right orbit, it's only the axis of the sun that is tilted?

The same way the axis of the Earth is tilted.

Now....why is that?

[Last Conformist]

Considering that the planets account for the great majority of the total angular momentum, it would seem more reasonable to assume that it's the sun that's tilted from the original nebula.

Now, I don't know why the sun is tilted.

[ZEE]

BTW magnetics has NOTHING to do with gravity...
continue...

[SlowwHand]

It has to do with tides though. Maybe all the tides going in and out threw us out of whack.

[ZEE]

Lost Conformist AND Slowwhand are both right. Momentum essentially IS gravity, and the tides are caused by the magnetic pull of the Moon. Interestingly however, without the magnetic pull of the moon, our momentum will slow causing our GRAVITY to go bonkers. but magnetics itself is totally different than the gravitational force...

[Kuciwalker]

Lost Conformist AND Slowwhand are both right. Momentum essentially IS gravity, and the tides are caused by the magnetic pull of the Moon.

WTF

[ZEE]

confusing isnt it

[Kuciwalker]

The moon has no magnetic field, kid.

[Dauphin]

Re: Why Dont the Planets Orbit the Solar Equator?

Originally posted by Berzerker
I've read the the sun is tilted a bit over 7 degrees to the ecliptic, but the solar equator should reflect the tilt of the collapsing nebula so why are the planets out of whack?

You want to be using the plane that the sum of angular momentums rotates around. Not the ecliptic, which is just the earth's plane of rotation.

[ZEE]

and THAT Kuciwalker, as much respect as i have for you, is one of the most hotly debated topics in science today...

[Kuciwalker]

And even if it did have magnetic field, it's trivial to demonstrate how the tides are caused by the Moon's gravity.