Eli5 is there a below and above in space?

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When I look at a solar system drawing there are planets circling the sun and they look like they are in a straight line and level to each other. But is there a below and above? Like if we sent out a camera directly under earth (south pole) would there be planets, stars, etc below Earth?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Pretty much everything in the solar system orbits the Sun on roughly the same plane, so it appears flat. There are elements of the solar system “above” and “below” this plane, like distant asteroids and comets, but generally it’s flat. This is due to the conservation of angular momentum and the way things have been rotating since the solar system was formed.

The galaxy is also “flat,” but it’s much larger and much thicker…about 1000 light-years thick. The solar system’s plane is also tilted with respect to the galaxy’s plane, so we see plenty of stars in every direction, even “up” and “down.”

The universe is more or less “spherical”, in the sense that it reaches out as far as we can see in every direction. There are galaxies everywhere.

You asked what we would see if we sent a camera “under” Earth. Earth itself is tilted with respect to the solar system’s plane, so something being “below” Earth doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “below” the solar system.

Lastly, of course, there is no “up” or “down” or “above” or “below” in space. These are terms which describe direction relative to something else, and there is no universal “something else” to refer to. If we say something is “below” the solar system, it could just as easily be described as being “above” it.

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