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Each planet (and the Sun) rotates about its own axis. The axis is an imaginary

line between the poles of a planet. All points on the planet rotate around this central line.

The angular momentum vectors of the Sun and planets together can be added up and the result is an equivalent rotation in a plane called Laplace's invariable plane.

The invariable plane lies within about half a degree of the plane of Jupiter's orbit.

About 98% of the angular momentum in the Solar System is contributed by the four outer planets. That means that if those planets were collapsed into the Sun it would rotate 50 times faster and throw off a new belt of debris, eventually forming a new solar system.

That argument explains why there are so many solar systems.

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11y ago

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