Is the Solar System rightside up, or, upside down??? Why?
114114
It's actually inside out.  But black holes are trying to fix that.
509642
Earth isn't in a strong enough gravitational pull of another planet. There is no "up" or "down" in space. Earth is constantly moving, the solar system moves, the galaxy moves. \n\nI have a question for you...\nHow would you define which direction we would fall in space? Gravity is the reason we fall on Earth.
597835
It isn't "chance" although that is why it is the right/size to produce solar eclipses.\n\nThe moon is not perfectly symmetrical. The crust is thinner on our side, and the core (heavy part of the moon) is displaced towards our side. That acts almost like a handle for the earth's gravity. It has slowed to the point where the earth's gravity now keeps this side pointed towards the earth.\n\nHowever it is not perfect. As seen from the earth, the moon wobbles slightly --- both side to side and up and down. The motion is called libration and allows us to see more than half of the moon. We had a discussion on the yahoo lunar group recently with a link to an animated gif that showed the moon's libration.\n\nIf you are interested in the moon, try\nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/\n\nChuck
955624
If it wasn't for gravity, there would be no earth.  (Gravity holds the earth together.)  \n\nThe very notion of "up" and "down" *needs* gravity, or it has no meaning.  The very notion of "down" has always meant,  "in the direction of gravity", even before we knew what gravity was.  If you are in a room with no windows, how do you know which way is "down"?  Because "down" is THE DIRECTION THAT THINGS FALL.  When you stand up, it's THE DIRECTION OF YOUR FEET.  Without gravity, there is no notion of falling, and no notion of "standing up" so "down" (and "up") have no meaning.  Think of astronauts in a room with no windows on the Space Station.  They have no "up" or "down". \n\nOr think of it another way.  The notion of "up" and "down" has less to do with the direction of the earth, as with the direction of gravity.  If you are standing on the moon, or on mars, which way is "down"?  It will be in the direction things fall ... towards the planet you are standing on.  So "down" is defined relative to the current direction of gravity, regardless of what is causing that gravity.\n\nSo the earth has no "up" and "down" except with respect to gravity.  It also has no "top" or "bottom" ... the North Pole is not the top of the earth.  We just like to make maps that way, but there's no scientific reason for it.    (The Egyptions drew maps relative to the Nile river ... so the "upper Nile" is South, and the "lower Nile" is North.)
25342
Think rally hard. The moon has gravity just like the earth. Have you ever seen a flag on earth stand that straight? They had a metal pole across the top and the grainy video make it look as if it is fluttering.
270714
No there is not..an upside down from what perspective? you would need a frame of reference to start from. If you were in a shuttle then there would be an upside down in the shuttle or course, but not out in space as there is no "down" or "up"
39914
Horizontal is sideways. Think of the horizon. It goes sideways (not up and down) across the sky.
359195
All planets are tilted, just not to that extreme...   It is more than likely that it had a close encounter with a large object in its past.  But what the crap do you mean that it moves sidewards?  Its in a relatively normal orbit, how does it move sideways?  I think a more interesting question is why does Venus spin clockwise?
543004
Technically, the general rotation direction of the Sun and most planets is a leftover from the original solar nebula from which the Solar System formed.  As the planets and Sun coalesced, they retained the rotation direction of the original nebula.\n\nDuring the coalescence phase, asteroid-size chunks collided and stuck together.  As more and more of these chunks collected, the planets grew in size.  However, these chunks not only brought mass to the mix, they also brought momentum.  Since most of the materials were probably all travelling in more or less the same direction, the general rotation direction of the growing planets remained the same.\n\nIn the case of Venus and Uranus, it is suspected that a major collision between the planet and another body literally tipped the planets over due to an off-center orientation of the collision.  Uranus tipped over on its side, probably due to its size relative to the other body.  Venus, being smaller, tipped so far over that its rotation was reversed.
53463
there is no direction in outer space.. thers is no up and no down.. we have this kind directin because of gravity.. our geographic north is the magnetic south and vice versa..
276032
Because the gravity pulls people and all things with mass toward the center of the earth. The concept of up and down is irrelevent in space. We usually put north to top and south to bottom when we show maps or globe just out of convenience and tradition.\n\nWhen the moon is directly above us, we weigh slightly less becasue moon's mass will pull us also.
1103323
Your telescope is a reflector. Light enters the tube, and strikes the primary mirror in the back, which is parabolic like a satellite dish. The mirror directs all the light it could gather to the secondary mirror upfront. If you could see the light being directed to the secondary mirror, it would appear as a cone with the tip chopped off due to it striking the secondary mirror.\n\nThe primary mirror, being parabolic, flips the image when viewed from past a certain distance away, because of the way it directs the light. If you ever come across those magnifying beauty mirrors, it's the same deal. You'll find that at a certain distance, the reflection of your finger appears on the opposite side that your finger is actually on. You can even find a point where your finger and it's reflection is pointing right at eachother and you can't tell the difference between which is the real object and which is the reflected image!\n\nAnyway some people are bothered by the fact that the image is "upside down" in reflectors and there is a way to correct for it, as other people have mentioned. But keep in mind that in space, there is no up or down, so there's no such thing as upside down. You really get used to it quickly when aiming the telescope on things and recentering objects.
425199
i suspect that the solar system is located in a spur of the sagittarius arm.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_Arm
141708
Yes. It's actually in our own solar system.  Whether it is a planet or not is the real question.  It is really small.  While bigger than pluto, it is still smaller than the Earth's moon!
347602
It's called 'retrograde' and it is has to do with how the orbits of Earth and Mars differ. Here's a good source for you, \nhttp://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/data/Retrograde/\nhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky04.html
726493
I never paid attention to it. I will look at it more closely next time I see it though. I am not really sure about the upside down stars being evil though. I will look into that also.
224788
Orbital obliquity is probably influenced by the sun in some way during the time when the planets were forming, but I don't think we have any solid idea exactly what factors were involved.  It's clear that most of the planets' axis are more or less vertical, though Venus in fact rotates the opposite way (so its obliquity is considered to be nearly 180 degrees).  The big exception is Neptune, which is nearly lying on its side.\n\nIf the Earth was similarly lying on its side as you suggest, then yes, it could spin the same and have light and dark "sides" that only change as it moves around the Sun.  See Neptune for details of this exact mechanism.