PV Gap

Andrea Said:

Is there an up or down in our solar system?Are the Suns magnetic poles directly opposite?

We Answered:

The reason why all the planets lie on a plane is because when the sun first formed, gas and dust were sucked into the sun because of it's gravity, which imparted angular momentum on the sun and started it spinning. This formed a disk around the new sun which eventually coalesced into the planets we see today.

Kim Said:

Why do all planets in our solar system go around the sun in the same way?

We Answered:

It's thought that the planets formed from a rotating disk of dust and gas orbiting the Sun. This is the remnant of the cloud that the Sun formed from, so it rotates in the same direction as the Sun, also. All the planets rotate in the same plane and direction as that disk. We can observe (mostly indirectly) similar disks around some stars today.

For a planet to orbit in a radically different direction or plane, it would have to come from or be affected by some source beyond the Sun. Also, our Sun is orbited by a cloud of cometary bodies called the Oort cloud, which appears to be spherical. Comets from the Oort cloud come through the solar system in essentially random orientations.

Roberta Said:

Why is Mars so different from the other lifeless spheroids in our solar system?

We Answered:

The surface of Mercury was obliterated by the high energy of meteor strikes, so it shows this shattered aspect. As it was a smaller body it was easier to radiate away the heat of planetary formation. Then the atmosphere that would have insulated it and kept the heat in was blown away by the strong solar wind so close in.
Venus is hidden by the sulfuric acid clouds from its continued volcanism. This thick atmosphere keeps the heat in, and the surface is still being renewed.
Earth had it's surface ripped off by a collision, the remnants formed the moon. The Earths surface, condensed and churned had a lighter surface, that separated water and gases from the metals inside. The inside is still very hot and has not cooled as much as the other rocky planets.
Mars had the lighter minerals mixed in. The surface was continually resurfaced just like Venus. Being smaller, the volcanos lost energy quicker. Without volcanos the gas blanket went away. This allowed Mars to cool. The surface is basalt, with loose material blown by the remaining gases which are almost gone.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news…
http://www.nineplanets.org/

Joe Said:

when and how did people begin to get really good images of planets in solar system?

We Answered:

It's hard to find old planetary photos online. Your best bet is to look in old books at the library. Earth-based photos of planets haven't improved that much---maybe 3 or 4 times better resolution---since we started getting closeups from space probes. The link, below, is an example of what Hubble can see on Mars.

Andy Said:

how could the solar system not be proof of God's existence?

We Answered:

Gee he sure went to a lot of trouble for our viewing pleasure. What about all the other stars and planets that are not visible by the human eye some not even by our most powerful telescope, what purpose do they serve? That picture sure looks like the result of a nebula forming into a star and planets which revolve around the star, well to me anyway.

Sherri Said:

What is the best compact digital camera for solar system astrophotography?

We Answered:

Nikon D70 digital SLR, Canon EOS 10D, Nikon Coolpix 850/9xx, Olympus 20xx/30xx, and Casio QV xxxx.

Or, if you really want to get into it, something like a Lumenera SKYnyx2-2 Color CCD Astrophotography Camera
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp…