Why do the planets of our solar system all rotate in the same direction and basically in the same plane?
First all seven of nine planets, their 40 or so moons and the Jupiter and Saturn rings rotate in the same direction , as do the asteroids in the asteroid belt. Even the gas of the Sun rotates this way – not rigidly like a planet, but differentially, like the whole Solar System, with the outer equator going around in about 25 days, and other parts needing a month to make a Sun day. With the rule so strong the principle must be strong to – and it is. This CCW (Counter ClockWise) Spin is angular momentum left over from the initial collapse of the protoplanetary nebula (chunk of collapsing gas) that led to the formation of the Sun and her planets. The Sun, as with every other star, came from a chunk of a cloud of gas – a small chunk, because these clouds, called Giant Molecular Clouds, have the mass of 10,000 Suns, although in near perfect vacuum density – 10,000 molecules per cc. A part collapses under its own gravity and after a while (a million years).
