Here's why:
* Gravitational influence: The Sun's gravity pulls all the objects in the solar system towards it, creating a central point of attraction.
* Orbital plane: The planets formed from a spinning disk of gas and dust, and they inherited this rotation. The planets' orbits are all tilted at slightly different angles, but they're relatively close to the same plane.
* Non-uniform distribution: The planets aren't evenly spaced throughout the solar system. There are large distances between some planets and relatively smaller distances between others.
So, while it's helpful to picture the solar system as a flattened disk, it's important to remember that it's not perfectly flat or uniform. It's a complex and dynamic system with numerous objects moving in various orbits.