A.1 Consideration of the rotational behaviour of the Sun and Planets

It is noted that apart from Venus and Uranus all the planets rotate in the same anti-clockwise direction as does the Sun³⁵. Table 1 also shows that despite the wide range of planet diameters, their rotation period is within a 10-24-day hour envelope (except for Mercury and Venus). This immediately suggests that the rotational velocity is controlled by the rotation of the Sun. The inner core of the Sun is reportedly rotating on its axis every 5 Earth days³⁵. However, as the Sun itself displays a measurable ‘wobble’ (Fig 34) as measured between 1944 and 2020 different scenarios can be contemplated. The first scenario is that the wobble is linked to the variable gravitational pull from all the planets as they move around the Sun in their elliptical orbits as shown in Fig 31. Fig 32³⁶ shows that the Sun’s own COM is continuously and cyclically offset from its axis of rotation.

The second scenario is to give consideration of the possibility that the sun itself may have a faster rotating inner layer of the core with an approximate 24-hour rotation velocity mode. If this prediction can be postulated, then the concept of a ‘gravitational crank coupling’ (GCC) is worth consideration. Under these circumstances a nominal 1:1 daily rotational ratio between the Sun and the planets does not seem that far-fetched. The gravitational effects of the moons on the various planets are not considered at this point.

Mercury with its almost zero tilt and extremely low daily rotational velocity suggests that the COM is almost coincident with the N-S rotational axis making it more likely to be ‘pulled’ around in orbit, rather than be rotated around an axis. The higher orbital velocity of Venus within the lower orbital velocity of the Earth, causes it to overtake the Earth as they orbit the Sun. Furthermore, Venus’s inclined orbital path causes the planet to move above and below the Earth’s orbital path. It is outside the remit of this research programme to find a resultant gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth that explains the slow retrograde rotation of what appears at first sight to be an ‘upside down’ planet given its axial tilt of 177.3°.