[SunkenCiv]

"The Ecliptic is the plane of the Earth's orbit. Most of the planetary orbits are close to this plane. Pluto's orbit is inclined at an angle of 17.14 degrees to the ecliptic plane - the largest deviation of any planet." -- http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/science/glossary.html

http://bobscrafts.com/bobstuff/planets.htm

Mercury -- "Its orbit is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic by 7 degrees (The plane of the ecliptic is the plane of the Earth's orbit. All planets orbit in planes that are nearly the same as that of the Earth.)."

Venus -- "Its orbit is inclined at an angle of 3.4 degrees."

Mars -- "The orbit's eccentricity is 0.093 at an inclination of 1.9 degrees."

Jupiter -- "The orbit has an eccentricity of 0.048 at an inclination of 1.3 degrees."

Saturn -- "Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.056 with an inclination of 2.5 degrees."

Uranus -- "The orbit has an eccentricity of 0.047 and an inclination of 0.8 degrees."

Neptune -- "It has an eccentricity of 0.009 and an inclination of 1.8 degrees."

[IslandJeff]

Please forgive my ignorance, but would the relative lack of eccentricity WRT Neptune and Terra Firma on the Ecliptic indicate something like Neptune being a dying star of sorts, perhaps central to the formation of Earth - sort of like us all exploding outward from somewhere else and settling around nice ol' Sol? What also confuses is the retrograde rotation of Uranus (or is it Neptune?).

Great thread, thank you so much for keeping this beancounter on your ping list.