Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Re: Angular momentum- an answer or two

Re: I dont see any reason to expect conformity in galaxy

I don't see any reason to expect conformity in the orientation of star systems, for the same reason that galaxies are oriented randomly. Matter in space is spread so thin that it is only in the immediate vicinity of a star that they are packed densely enough that their motions can influence each other. So within a planetary system most bodies will probably have the same orbital character, but after a certain distance there will be no "go with the flow" trends, eg. the Oort Cloud is almost spherical, nothing bangs into anything else out there:

40 AU = Pluto
66 AU = Voyager II
83 AU = Voyager I
100 AU = Kuiper Belt
120 AU = Heliopause
170 AU = Termination Shock
200 AU = Bow Shock
44,000 AU = Comets
250,000 AU = Half-Way to Alpha Centauri

I read alot in astronomy about the directions and distances, velocities of other stars and galaxies, and of course they always make a generalization about the universe as a whole. But I don't see how they could generalize, because they couldn't possibly have taken measurements of every star and galaxy out there. And it would be difficult to do a survey of the orientations of planetary systems in the Milky Way because alot of protoplanetary systems are so thick with dust that their star is blotted out - they are invisible!

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