Second Alignment Plane Of Solar System Discovered

 

A study of comet motions indicates that the solar system has a second alignment plane. Analytical investigation of the orbits of long-period comets shows that the aphelia of the comets, the point where they are farthest from the Sun, tend to fall close to either the well-known ecliptic plane where the planets reside or a newly discovered 'empty ecliptic.'

This has important implications for models of how comets originally formed in the solar system.