Diane Damweber, age 11, of Allentown, 'PA,

Do all the planets orbit the sun in the same direction?

The earth and its sister planets all swing around their orbits in the same direction. So do the asteroids and most of the moons of the Solar System. Meantime the sun rotates around on its axis. And, most amazing, the planets all travel around their orbits in the same direction as the sun rotates around its axis. The earth and most of the planets also rotate in the same direction as the sun rotates ‑ which is from the west towards the east.

We use the terms north, south and east and west to clarify directions on our planet. And we also can use these same terms to describe the directions of the Solar System. In this case, we can say that all the planets roll around their orbits in an easterly direction ‑ and almost everything else in the Solar System swings around in the same direction.