Do all planets rotate anticlockwise or are there others that rotate clockwise as well?

MrsAce

In the Solar system, almost everything rotates in the same sense: all major planets orbit the Sun counterclockwise as seen from the north ecliptic pole (which is in Ursa Major, about 23° from the pole star, Polaris). Most planets spin in the same sense, including Earth. The same happens with the orbital motions of the Moon, Mars' moons, and the biggest moons of Jupiter and Saturn around their planets. All these motions are called "direct" or "prograde." Rotation in the opposite sense is called retrograde. Venus, Uranus and Pluto spin clockwise, so they have a retrograde rotation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrograde_motion Jul 11 05, 12:08 PM

peasypod

I am assuming this refers to the "rotation" of the planets around the Sun rather than their (intrinsic) spin. Retrograde motion is something different, it is the apparent anti-rotation at certain times due to the Earth's motion. Since the planets were formed from a single rotating disc it is natural that they all rotate in the same direction. However, as our vantage point is from the (moving) Earth, the outer planets appear to reverse their motion in the night sky. This retrograde motion should not be confused with an opposing direction of rotation. It is a common term in astronomy to refer to the apparent motion of planets (although the wikipedia site seems to think otherwise - I have seem numerous eminent texts which use the term). NASA seem to concur.... http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky04.html Jul 12 05, 5:50 AM