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Do any planets orbit clockwise

Updated: 8/11/2023
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10y ago

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The earth spins anticlockwise, looking down from the north.

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14y ago
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15y ago

== == When viewed from the 'top' or the 'north pole' of the Sun, the Earth revolves COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. Also, when viewed from above it's own North Pole, the Earth rotates counter-clockwise, as well.

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10y ago

No, all planets in our solar system orbit counterclockwise, by the usual definition.

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Do _ANY_ planets orbit clockwise? Not in THIS solar system, but the direction of orbit is probably determined by the direction of rotation of the original nebula that forms the solar system. We cannot yet tell which direction the planets in OTHER solar systems orbit, but 1) it's probable that all the planets in a solar system orbit the same way, and 2) there are probably nearly equal numbers of systems with clockwise and counterclockwise rotations.

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14y ago

(Ans. 1) anticlockwise

(Ans. 2) Yes, only if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere the movement appears to be clockwise. Since there is no true UP or DOWN in space, you may pick whatever answer pleases you.

Incidentally, the Sun does not spin or rotate the Earth. Our spin results from the angular momentum of all the pieces of matter that were assembled by mutual gravity to form the Earth.

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11y ago

the Earth rotates counter clockwise if you are looking down on it from the north pole. There is a problem with your question: the earth does rotate but, that word is reserved to mean 'spins on its axis'. The earth revolves around, or orbits, the sun in a counterclockwise direction when viewed looking down from the north.

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16y ago

DEPENDS ON WHICH SIDE OF THE EQUATOR YOU ARE ON. Looked at from a million miles or so above the North Pole. The Earth orbits around the Sun counterclockwise. The Earth spins on it axis counterclockwise too.

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14y ago

To any observer in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Celestial Pole appears to never move.

Observers in the Southern Hemisphere can't see the North Celestial Pole, so we can forget about them.

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10y ago

Every planet can be observed to spin clockwise OR anticlockwise, whichever

you prefer, by simply positioning yourself in space above the appropriate pole

of the planet.

Note: The usual convention is to consider the spin from an imaginary point high above the Earth's north pole.

So, with that definition, all except 2 of the planets in our solar system spin counterclockwise, not clockwise.

The 2 exceptions are Venus and Uranus.

In fact, the spin axis of Uranus is almost in its own orbital plane, but it does (just about) spin clockwise on the usual definition.

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13y ago

Most things in THIS solar system that rotate, rotate counter-clockwise. That includes the rotation of the Sun, the rotations of 3/4 of the planets, and the orbital motion of all the planets.

Probably, the original planetary nebula that formed our solar system was spinning CCW.

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14y ago

That all depends on where you're watching it from.

(That's the whole problem with descriptions of motion in space ... there's nothing to refer it to,

and it all depends on how you look at it. That's what Einstein's "Relativity" is all about.)

If you're 'above' the sun, on the same end as the earth's north pole, looking 'down' at the solar system,

you see all the planets, including earth, moving counterclockwise in their orbits.

If you're 'below' the sun, on the same end as the earth's south pole, looking 'up' at the solar system,

you see all the planets, including earth, moving clockwise in their orbits.

But that's really not an answer to the question, because the words 'above', 'below', 'up', and 'down'

in those statements don't really make any sense either. We only described it that way because it's

traditional to put north at the top of our printed maps. But it doesn't have to be that way, and there

are many countries where they print south at the top of their maps.

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Do inferior planets orbit the sun clockwise?

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What planet orbits the other way then earth?

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Why do the moons stay in orbit around Jupiter?

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