House13Games t1_je9g2pj wrote
Reply to comment by Durrynda in Do planets of solar system have parallel orbits? by Durrynda
gravity of all the planets pulling on each other pull them into a stable, flat plane. Imagine all the planets but one rogue one are in this same plane, like circles on the surface of your desk.. The rogue planet orbits at a big angle, so even if it is going in a circle, half of the time it is above the desk, and half the time below (like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Orbit1.svg/1280px-Orbit1.svg.png - the grey is the plane all the planets are in, apart from the rogue one which is the yellow orbit) . When it is above the plane, all the other planets are located below it, and pull on it with gravity, down towards the plane. When it is below the plane, the planets in the plane are all above it, and they all pull it up. Over a very long period of time this brings the rogue planet closer and closer into the plane. Once within the plane, the planets still pull on each other, but there are no forces which would cause them to leave the plane again. Over time everything will settle into this single plane as its the only true long term stable solution.
dark_LUEshi t1_je9ie23 wrote
gravity is one of the major force in the universe, id guess it has something to do with the way celestial objects are spinning and how their mass affect things around them. I would hazard a guess that planets in the solar system turn on the same plane the sun is.
DeanXeL t1_je9iequ wrote
To add to this, due to OP's comparison with electrons orbiting a nucleus in 3D space: where planets and other materials in space all PULL on each other due to gravity (don't ask what gravity is, IDK, okay? Nobody knows!), electrons PUSH on each other, they repel one another. So they get pulled in by the nucleus, but when they come to close to each other, they start repelling one another, and thus they can end up in seemingly 3D orbits, because this allows them to be the furthest from each other.
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