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All eight planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun in the direction of the Sun's rotation, which is counterclockwise when viewed from above the Sun's north pole. Six of the planets also rotate about their axis in this same direction. The exceptions – the planets with retrograde rotation – are Venus and Uranus.
This definition is independent of the object's direction of rotation about its axis. This implies that an object's direction of rotation, when viewed from above its north pole, may be either clockwise or counterclockwise. The direction of rotation exhibited by most objects in the solar system (including Sun and Earth) is counterclockwise.
The north orbital poles of the Solar System major planets all lie within Draco. [1] The central yellow dot represents the Sun's rotation axis north pole. [citation needed] Jupiter's north orbital pole is colored orange, Mercury's pale blue, Venus's green, Earth's blue, Mars's red, Saturn's magenta, Uranus's grey, and Neptune's lavender.
Earth's rotation axis moves with respect to the fixed stars (inertial space); the components of this motion are precession and nutation. It also moves with respect to Earth's crust; this is called polar motion. Precession is a rotation of Earth's rotation axis, caused primarily by external torques from the gravity of the Sun, Moon and other bodies.
The planets in our solar system orbit the sun essentially along a line across the sky in a plane called the ecliptic. For that reason, planets in our Earthly sky always appear somewhere along a ...
up to one Sun or Moon diameter (about 0.5° or 30') every 2 minutes; up to one diameter of the planet Venus in inferior conjunction (about 1' or 60") about every 4 seconds; 2,000 diameters of the largest stars per second; Star trail and time-lapse photography capture diurnal motion blur. The apparent motion of stars near the celestial pole ...
A total of five planets are going retrograde between May and September: Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. "Retrograde" is a term used to describe when a planet's orbit appears to slow.
The planets are lining up, forming a rare and special parade across the night sky in January and February. Four planets — Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars — are bright enough to see with the ...