inclination
Quick Summary
The inclination of an orbit is the angle between the plane of that orbit and the plane of the ecliptic. This angle, measured in degrees, helps define an orbit's orientation in space.12
An orbit is the path a celestial body takes around another body due to gravity, such as a planet around a star. While most planets in our solar system orbit in a counterclockwise direction, some moons and comets exhibit retrograde motion, moving in the opposite direction. The inclination is one of six orbital elements used to completely describe an orbit and predict a body's future positions.23
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orbitThe inclination, or tilt, of a planet’s orbit is measured in degrees of arc from the plane of Earth’s orbit, called the ecliptic. S, at the centre of the drawing, represents the Sun. The points where the two orbital planes intersect (as projected in imagination upon…
Read MoreThe inclination, or tilt, of a planet’s orbit is measured in degrees of arc from the plane of Earth’s orbit, called the ecliptic. S, at the centre of the drawing, represents the Sun. The points where the two orbital planes intersect (as projected in imagination upon…
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solar systemOrbits…around the Sun is its inclination, which is the angle that it makes with the plane of Earth’s orbit—the ecliptic plane. Again, of the planets, Mercury’s has the greatest inclination, its orbit lying at 7° to the ecliptic; Pluto’s orbit, by comparison, is much more steeply inclined, at 17.1°. The…
Read More…around the Sun is its inclination, which is the angle that it makes with the plane of Earth’s orbit—the ecliptic plane. Again, of the planets, Mercury’s has the greatest inclination, its orbit lying at 7° to the ecliptic; Pluto’s orbit, by comparison, is much more steeply inclined, at 17.1°. The…
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