Inverse orbital direction
Is it possible that a planet/moon will have inverse direction comparing to the rest orbiting material?
For example Mars would go in counter direction comparing to other planets in solar system.
If not (and somehow I feel its not possible) how about some random flying object that gets caught by gravity of bigger object, but this random object approaches in a direction that would actually cause this opposite direction? Would it turn by time? Would it collapse? Or is it impossible to get caught?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/162829. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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For an in-situ born planet, it can happen, though it is hard to have the exact chain of events.
Basically you need to have a series of gravitational slingshots with a larger body that put your planet on the opposite rotation direction of the entire system. While playing with this simulator, I sometime managed to pull out that stunt, and have a planet orbiting in the other direction. Even in our solar system we have some asteroids following that behavior.
I don't think the same can happen with an impact event: though such a case can change the rotation axis or speed, to invert the velocity vector would probably require too much energy to leave the planet intact.
For a captured object it would likewise be possible to orbit in the opposite direction, though I suspect that if the orbital plane was too different it would be equalized over astronomical times.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/162830. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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