There are many planetary systems like ours in the universe, with planets orbiting a host star. Our planetary system is named the "solar system" because our Sun is named Sol, after the Latin word for Sun, "Solis," and anything related to the Sun we call "solar." 
As soon as they began to observe the night sky, astronomers found that Mercury, Venus, Mars, and basically all the solar system planets, orbit in almost coplanar orbits. How was that possible?
An explanation for this was needed. 
As of today, we think the reason is the following: the orbits of the planets are coplanar because, during the Solar System's formation, the planets formed out of a disk of dust that surrounded the Sun. Because that disk of dust was a disk, all in a plane, all of the planets formed in a plane as well. 

But let's see this in more detail. 


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Credits: Ron Miller, Mark A. Garlick / MarkGarlick.com
Credits: Nasa/Shutterstock/Storyblocks/Elon Musk/SpaceX/ESA/ESO/ Flickr

Video Chapters:
00:00 Intro
1:12 planetary formation
5:02 planetesimal
7:50 the ecliptic
8:20 Pluto orbit

#insanecuriosity #planets #orbit