Planets around the Sun
Discussion
RobM77 said:
Eric Mc said:
dkatwa said:
Hi all..is there a website that shows the path of the planets around the Sun in 3D, where you can zoom in/ out and do time travel to see changes in 1 year, 100 years, 1 million years etc...
I gather the Earth does not go around the sun in a circle and the planets are constantly moving in orbits in different planes to the earth...
None of the planets' orbits are perfect circles. They are all elliptical to some extent. Some are more elliptical than others.I gather the Earth does not go around the sun in a circle and the planets are constantly moving in orbits in different planes to the earth...
All of the planets lie roughly in the same plane - which is more or less in line with the sun's equator and is referred to as the plane of the ecliptic. The planets don't lie absolutely on this plane but they are pretty close. That's why you will only ever see planets in a distinct band in the sky, which is referred to as the Zodiac.
The OP may find these links interesting:
Firstly, something about how planets orbit in ellipses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_laws_of_p...
Secondly, something about the variation in orbital inclination that Eric mentions above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_inclination
Incidentally, something the OP may find interesting is that the earth's elliptical orbit means that we're closest to the sun on January the 3rd (~147 million km) and furthest from the sun on July the 4th (~152 million km). More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perihelion_and_aphel...
Think of dinner plates revolving on a stick - similar to what magicians and jugglers sometimes do as a show trick.
You will probably recall that the plates don't revolve in a perfectly stable way. They wobble up and down somewhat. Planets revolve around the sun a bit like that - although not as extremely. And they all do it differently to each other to some extent.
The "ecliptic" is an imaginary line drawn through the centre of the sun and out through its equator. The planets are more or less on that line - apart from the fact they wobble up and down a bit as described above.
The planets don't orbit the sun in perfect circles. The orbits are slightly stretched into an oval shape - or an "ellipse".
None of that should be hard to visualise.
You will probably recall that the plates don't revolve in a perfectly stable way. They wobble up and down somewhat. Planets revolve around the sun a bit like that - although not as extremely. And they all do it differently to each other to some extent.
The "ecliptic" is an imaginary line drawn through the centre of the sun and out through its equator. The planets are more or less on that line - apart from the fact they wobble up and down a bit as described above.
The planets don't orbit the sun in perfect circles. The orbits are slightly stretched into an oval shape - or an "ellipse".
None of that should be hard to visualise.
Eric Mc said:
Think of dinner plates revolving on a stick - similar to what magicians and jugglers sometimes do as a show trick.
You will probably recall that the plates don't revolve in a perfectly stable way. They wobble up and down somewhat. Planets revolve around the sun a bit like that - although not as extremely. And they all do it differently to each other to some extent.
The "ecliptic" is an imaginary line drawn through the centre of the sun and out through its equator. The planets are more or less on that line - apart from the fact they wobble up and down a bit as described above.
The planets don't orbit the sun in perfect circles. The orbits are slightly stretched into an oval shape - or an "ellipse".
None of that should be hard to visualise.
Makes sense..thanks..so, is there a website that shows this visually? For example, if I speed up the process, say, 100 times, then I would see the Earth spinning like a top, with the pole moving away from the current North star due to precession..You will probably recall that the plates don't revolve in a perfectly stable way. They wobble up and down somewhat. Planets revolve around the sun a bit like that - although not as extremely. And they all do it differently to each other to some extent.
The "ecliptic" is an imaginary line drawn through the centre of the sun and out through its equator. The planets are more or less on that line - apart from the fact they wobble up and down a bit as described above.
The planets don't orbit the sun in perfect circles. The orbits are slightly stretched into an oval shape - or an "ellipse".
None of that should be hard to visualise.
I am sure there are sites but I have yet to find one
cheers
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