General relativity and planetary orbit

[Eikonoklast]

Hopefully someone here can answer this question for me. I've been thinking about it the past couple of days, but lack the scientific background to provide an answer for myself.

Given that the Sun is a relatively spherical mass, I would expect its impression in space, and thus effect on gravity, to be pretty much the same in all dimensions surrounding the Sun. Why then is it that the planets of our solar system orbit the Sun on a relatively level plane?

I imagine the answer is much more complicated than even I think, having to deal with the formation of the planets, how they came to orbit the Sun in the first place, and their gravitational effects on each other.

[Majestyk]

Hopefully someone here can answer this question for me. I've been thinking about it the past couple of days, but lack the scientific background to provide an answer for myself.

Given that the Sun is a relatively spherical mass, I would expect its impression in space, and thus effect on gravity, to be pretty much the same in all dimensions surrounding the Sun. Why then is it that the planets of our solar system orbit the Sun on a relatively level plane?

I imagine the answer is much more complicated than even I think, having to deal with the formation of the planets, how they came to orbit the Sun in the first place, and their gravitational effects on each other. My understanding is that the mass of material. which coalesced into the Sun and its planets, was itself in rotation. So as particles began to form in localized concentrations, the centripetal forces of rotation were forcing them outward perpendicular to the axis of the whole.

[Eikonoklast]

My understanding is that the mass of material. which coalesced into the Sun and its planets, was itself in rotation. So as particles began to form in localized concentrations, the centripetal forces of rotation were forcing them them outward perpendicular to the axis of the whole.

Aagghhhh! That seems so simple. Why didn't I think of that? :huh: Thank you Your Majesty.

[Godless Dave]

And while the 8 planets are in pretty much the same plane, the asteroids, comets, and Kuiper belt objects are not.

[WWJD4aKlondikeBar]

It's a lot more of the same reason that the Milky Way and other galaxies are formed into that same sort of pregnant frisbee model.