Do all planets tilt on their axis as they rotate around their sun

[raccoon]

the way the earth does?

[tn-guy]

1. yes

All planets have some degree of inclination. It varies from planet to planet.

[Nihil]

14. The first response wins the prize.

> All planets have some degree of inclination. It varies from planet to planet.

No planet discovered so far has an axis permanently perpendicular to its orbit
(due to precession) and so they are all similar to Earth (to a greater or lesser
degree).

Thanks for the quick response tn-guy!

[Ganja Ninja]

2. No, one of them, I believe it's Neptune has it's poll pointed at the

sun and rotates on it's side. I'm not sure about the rest but I think they don't tilt much. Earth's tilt is believed to have been caused by a close encounter with another large object.

[unpossibles]

3. well, technically 90º is still a tilt...

:)

[dave29]

5. agreed

but, it's not similar to the earth by a long the stretch

[rman]

8. Earth's tilt is just smaller than that of Neptune -

compared to no tilt, Earth and Neptune are quite similar in so far that tilting of axis go.

[seriousstan]

18. It is Uranus that is tilted over on it's side.

Each planet in our solar system seems to have some outstanding peculiarity, and Uranus is no exception. Unlike all the other planets, whose spin axes are roughly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, the rotation of Uranus axis lies almost within that plane—98° from the perpendicular, to be precise. (Note that because the north pole lies below the ecliptic plane, the rotation of Uranus, like that of Venus, is classified as retrograde.) Relative to the other planets, we might say that Uranus lies tipped over on its side. As a result, the "north" (spin) pole of Uranus, at some time in its orbit, points almost directly toward the Sun.

[dave29]

4. no

there are some odd configurations out there....

Another interesting note... there is at least one moon I can think of that rotates around it's planet in the opposite direction of the planets spin, unlike the rest of the moons... trying to remember which moon & planet that is now...

[eppur_se_muova]

9. If you want 'odd', check this out...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=20855&mesg_id=20855

[Dead_Parrot]

13. Triton...

...goes around Neptune "arse-first", and Jupiter and Staurn both have some small retrograde moons: These aren't moons formed with the planet, but are captured asteroids (or a KPO in Triton's case) so which orbit they end up in is down to which direction they happen to be captured from.

[endarkenment]

6. No god did it.

It is obviously proof of intelligent design.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. For the most part, yes

Just like a top, the axis of spin tends to "wobble" off of the perpendicular. Typically, that tilt varies quite a lot; Mars' axial tilt varies between 11° and 38°. There is even speculation, backed up by computer models, that planets can "flip;" one theory about Neptune's extreme tilt is that it is in the process of flipping.

The stability of Earth's axial tilt -- it varies between 22.1° and 24.5° over a 41,000 year period and is currently decreasing -- is attributed to the Moon.

[rwork]

10. Another question of curiosity.

I have read that the Earths magnetic field has reversed and could do it again. What were the results?

[GodlessBiker]

11. Iron filings across the globe went haywire.

[htuttle]

12. The Earth's magnetic poles move around all the time

I'm not sure they've ever 'reversed', as in changed drastically all at once, but I'm pretty sure they've wandered nearly all over the planet.

They can tell where the magnetic poles were in the past by studying ancient magnetized rocks formed when lava cooled. Those rocks point to where magnetic North was when they cooled. By that measure, the poles have 'reversed' compared to present day, but not all at once -- it was over time.

I think magnetic North is moving about 10km per year right now.

[TechBear_Seattle]

15. Yup, they can flip

The north magnetic pole is "north" only because it current corresponds (more or less) to the north axial pole. In reality, the poles move constantly (this story from 2002 states that the north magnetic pole has been drifting for decades and is beginning to pick up speed) and have completely reversed in the past.

See:
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4616
http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000444EF-BC2B-1C71-9EB7809EC588F2D7
http://www.physorg.com/news8917.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4985
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/3/1/14

[rman]

16. wiki: Geomagnetic reversal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

[Occulus]

17. Something just occurred to me

From the Wiki:

"A geomagnetic reversal is a change in the orientation of Earth's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south become interchanged. These events, which typically last a few hundred to a few thousands years, often involve an extended decline in field strength followed by a rapid recovery after the new orientation has been established."

That would mean more radiation from the sun would get through, right? Could this be a natural mechanism for an evolutionary 'leap'?