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I wanted to ask if it's possible to establish a correlation between the observed equatorial coordinates of a Solar System planet, especially declination, and the planet's orbital inclination with respect to the ecliptic.

In case there is such correlation, would it be possible, for example, to derive the orbital inclination of an outer planet by comparing its declination angles observed at different times?

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    $\begingroup$ This question is somewhat similar, but I was wondering more specifically about declination and orbital inclination. $\endgroup$
    – user3764418
    Dec 16, 2022 at 8:21
  • $\begingroup$ Orbital inclination can be determined from a number of right ascension, declination observations. It's been done for all the planets in the solar system. The best way to do it depends on how far off the ecliptic the hypothetical planet's orbital plane might be and the accuracy needed. There's no simple, short answer. $\endgroup$
    – stretch
    Dec 19, 2022 at 4:50
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    $\begingroup$ @stretch Just for the sake of argument: could two distinct observations of the planet over a years-long timespan be sufficient in principle to determine the orbital plane (if only low accuracy is needed)? $\endgroup$
    – user3764418
    Dec 19, 2022 at 14:56

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