Is space one plane????

Question

Are all orbits around the equator of whatever body is being orbited? Do all the planets orbit the equator of the sun?

If so....what is above or below those orbits?

If I was floating in outer space, and would there be stars if I looked up? and down? to the right? and to the left?

Answer 1

Bear in mind that the plane of our solar system is tilted nearly 90 degrees to the plane of our galaxy.

And some plutoids (Pluto, Sedna & Makemake, for example) have highly non-ecliptic orbits around the sun.

Notice also how photos of galaxies show them in various orientations, relative to our viewpoint. They're scattered at every possible angle.

Answer 2

When the solar nebula of gas and dust collapsed to form the Sun and planets, small motions caused the cloud to spin as it got smaller.  A skater in a spin brings in her arms and spins faster.  Some of the material spun in some other plane, but collisions soon get everything moving close to a single plane.

So all the planets orbit near the solar equator.  There are some comets that come to us from basically any direction.

The Ulysses space craft has been in solar polar orbit for some time.  It gets to observe the poles of the Sun, which are hard to see from Earth.

Comet Hyakutake, in 1996, came at the solar system from closer to the North - rather than the equatorial plane. It was also retrograde, meaning that it orbits the Sun the opposite direction that the planets orbit.  Things like this happen with some frequency.

Answer 3

1. thats how (theoretically) a solar system forms, through the spin of the whole system and gravity pulls the big blobs in to form plantets , moons, the sun etc.  

There are some bits outside the equatorial plane, but not much.

2. yes, yes, yes

The Milky Way formed (theoretically) kinda like our solar system on a larger scale, but there is always stars in every direction