Which planet turns clockwise

Hi there. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Every planet in our solar system except for Venus and Uranus rotates counter-clockwise as seen from above the North Pole; that is to say, from west to east. This is the same direction in which all the planets orbit the sun. Uranus was likely hit by a very large planetoid early in its history, causing it to rotate "on its side," 90 degrees away from its orbital motion.

Venus rotates backwards compared to the other planets, also likely due to an early asteroid hit which disturbed its original rotation. Dave was the founder of Ask an Astronomer. There he runs his own version of Ask the Astronomer. He also helps us out with the odd cosmology question. What direction do planets rotate? Beginner Hi there. Similar Questions that might Interest You Can the theory of formation of the solar system explain all the observables? Intermediate Why does the Earth have only one moon?

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Uranus makes one trip around the sound every 84 Earth years, due to its unique tilts, during some parts of this revolution, the poles are pointed directly at the sun and get almost 42 years of direct sunlight, while the other part of the planet is covered in total dark winter.

Saturn is the least dense planet in our Solar System. In fact, Saturn has a lower mean density than water, so theoretically the whole planet would float in a pool that has a 60, km width.

Uranus, with a mean density of 1. However, Uranus is unique by having hydrogen mixed with a helium upper layer. Uranus has two outer rings and eleven inner rings. Uranus has 27 moons in total orbiting it, not to count the ones that have been broken up into the 13 rings. Each of these moons is comprised of equal amounts of rock and ice, except for Miranda which is primarily made of ice.

The Voyager 2 spacecraft back in was the only spacecraft so far that has gone past the planet at a distance of 81, km. Uranus is a very big planet, and due to its size and main molecular composition of methane, it is speculated that the very bottom layer of ice might be diamonds.

This is possible because the methane molecules break down under the very tough pressure of ice and liquid, releasing carbon which in turn will form diamonds. Uranus was the first planet discovered by the modern telescope. Most of the planets in our Solar System are visible to the naked eye and ancient telescopes, so they were already known in ancient times.

Uranus, on the other hand, was the first planet discovered after the invention of the modern telescope, first recorded in by John Flamsteed. You can learn more about Uranus here. Below, is a video by National Geographic that highlights some more interesting facts about Uranus.

In fact, why do Earth and other planet rotate at all? As it turns out, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to our solar system, but in most observed stellar systems all throughout the universe. With that being said, to better understand why our Earth rotates counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, we have to discuss the formation of our Solar System.

When our Solar System was beginning to form, smaller dust and gas particles began clumping together, forming a proto-star and smaller objects in the process.

These smaller objects would then start orbiting the proto-star without any reason or pattern. We can imagine over time, these small objects would collide with one another, dissolving most of them and leaving just those that moved in one similar direction.

The objects that broke apart would end up forming planetary rings, orbiting the proto-star in the same direction as the objects left behind.

After some time, objects from these rings would fall into the proto-star and begin clumping again, which will make the proto-star bigger with stronger gravitational force.

This proto-star will end up forming our Sun, while the other bits, over the years, began clumping together to form the planets, including Earth. This cycle would repeat itself over and over again on a smaller and smaller scale, allowing smaller rings to form around the planets.

There are actually many theories attempting to answer this question, but most experts believe the planets—including Earth—, most likely acquired their rotations due to collision. Yet, collisions happen in random patterns, so how can most of them spin in the same direction? Our Solar System, before its formation, was just an empty cloud of gas. What was likely to have happened is that a nearby big bang bounced up against this cloud of gas, collapsing it.

As the collapse happened, its own gravitational force caused to form a flat, spinning disk. Venus, the second planet in Solar System and our neighbour, is also a twin of our blue planet. It has a similar size, mass, density and chemical composition. But of course just like any twin, there is always a difference between them.

How could you live in a such hot planet like that? And not just that. The day on Venus is much longer than one on the Earth.

It takes Earth days to complete its rotation but it only takes It means you already are in another year once the planet finishes the day. On top of it, Venus rotation is opposite to the Earth. It rotates backwards compared to the Earth and the other planets. Well not all, since Uranus also rotates in a different way.

If you look at the solar system from its north pole, then you will see all the planets orbiting the Sun counter clockwise and rotating on their axis counterclockwise, except for Venus and Uranus.

Venus rotates clockwise while Uranus rolls on its side as it orbits the Sun. At that time, all the planets rotated in the same direction. But something came along that changed the rotational direction of Venus and Uranus. Lets start with Venus. There are a few possibilities that we can take into account to explain why Venus rotates backwards. Venus is initially rotating counterclockwise like the other planets and it still does.

In other words, it spins in the same direction it always has, just upside down, so that looking at it from the other planets makes the spin look backward. As I said before, there are a few explanations for this. Such strong tides could have caused the flip to happen.