Questions tagged [inclination]
Inclination defines the angle between the plane of the orbit of a planet or comet and another plane, usually that of the ecliptic.
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why does pluto have a high orbital inclination
Pluto has a high orbital inclination compared to the planets in our solar system. What has caused Pluto to have such a different orbit -- was it always like this, or did something happen to make it ...
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Why do most planets remain within a few degrees from the ecliptic?
Why do planets, just like our moon, have their sidereal paths almost the same (with only slight deviation) as that of the ecliptic? Is it mere coincidence? Or is there a better solution?
This question ...
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Deriving orbital inclination from equatorial coordinates?
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 ...
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Why is the Kuiper belt called like this?
Since most orbits of KBOs are highly inclined, isn't it rather a "Kuiper cloud"? Most main belt objects are also more inclined than the eight recognized planets, but not as much as KBOs (and ...
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Why is our solar system "tipped" about 63° with respect to the plane of our galaxy?
Our own solar system is "tipped" by about 63 degrees with respect to the plane of the galaxy. Has it ever been researched or is there any scientific theory which could explain the reason why our solar ...
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What is the difference between inclination and obliquity?
I'm trying to understand the differences between obliquity and inclination when it comes to a system of a planet orbiting a star.
From what I understand, obliquity is the angle between the orbital ...
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Why aren't there eclipses every month when the moon's orbit is aligned with the ecliptic as a result of lunar precession?
I can understand why we don't have eclipses every month when the inclinations of the ecliptic plane and the moon's orbital plane are different. But the inclination of the moon's orbital plane changes ...
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How to estimate the inclination of a galaxy between edge on and face on?
I have the images of a galaxy and the field of view and I would like to determinte the inclination of a galaxy between edge-on and face-on. Would that information be enough to do the calculation? Or ...
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Determining inclination angle of interacting binaries
Consider an interacting binary system.
If the plane of their orbits is inclined by some angle $\theta$ around its semi major axis $a$ and some angle $\phi$ around its semi minor axis, is there a ...
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Lunar Inclination
Are there published tables for Lunar Inclination?
I am interested because I believe this determines the degree of "Diurnal Inequality" of tides. There are tons of publishes tables of tides ...
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What is a stellar component?
I have a question where I have to calculate the orbital inclination of a planet, so that it isn't a exoplanet but a stellar component. The mass of the star it is orbiting is 1.1 $M_☉$. Does the ...
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Planetary Declination and Axial Tilt
Is it a coincidence that Earth's axial tilt and maximum declination are both approximately 23 degrees?
Mechanically speaking, do planets physically cross the Solar equator, or is declination due to ...
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How does one calculate inclination from a graph of radial velocity?
If a binary star system has a non-zero inclination, how would that show up in a graph of radial velocity?
How could I then extract the inclination from the graph?
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Inclination of planets
Why do the planets have roughly the same inclination with respect to Earth?
Looking at the inclinations, which I got from http://www.astronomynotes.com/tables/tablesb.htm, we see that Mercury has ...
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What is the magnitude of variation of Earth's orbital inclination?
Please excuse if this has been asked and I just didn't find it.
I have found several references that indicate that the inclination of Earth's orbit varies over a period of ~70,000 years, but I can't ...
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How can we learn the inclination of the orbiting plane of the exoplanets using radial speed method?
I heard about the radial speed method to discover exoplanets a few years ago, however, these questions kept confusing me. If we know a planet star of mess $m$ is orbiting a star by interpreting the ...
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Precise declination of Moon
The moon follows 5.14 deg inclined path. the ecliptic and the Moon's path coincide are called 'nodes', and they travel around the ecliptic in a period of 18.66 years.
Once every 18.66 years, the ...
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Can we learn anything from observing galaxies edge-on, like the Spindle Galaxy?
I was reading about NGC 5866, sometimes referred to as the Spindle Galaxy. It's notable because of its inclination relative to Earth; we see the disk from the side, rather than face-on. The difference ...
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Eccentricity and Inclination of a Star
I understand Planetary Eccentricity and Inclination. However when it applies to a star, does the centre or ecliptic plane refer to the Sun or the Galactic Centre?
The star Sirius for example, 136....
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Guess inclination angle from radial velocity measurements
I came upon this question where the situation is I have radial velocity measurements of a star with two circular orbiting exoplanets and the question is how to find out if the inclination angles of ...
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Moon inclination
The Moon is inclined to the ecliptic 5.15 degrees, and the equator of the Earth tilts 23.44 degrees. Since the Moon's ascending node to the ecliptic rotates, the Moon's inclination to the Earth's ...
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Is Earth the most inclined or not?
I'm trying to understand orbital inclination by looking at the planetary orbit inclination table on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_inclination (there are orbital inclinations for terrestrial ...
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Ecliptic plane, its precise definition useful for calculations
My question is similar to the one posted by Abtract, whom however never got a useful answer. I am trying to calculate from scratch the exact times of sunrise and sunset anywhere on earth taking into ...
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Reasons for orbital inclinations
I see that there was already about Pluto's orbital inclination, but I would like to ask a more general question.
Why do planets have orbital inclinations? And is there any particular reason, other ...
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Which moons have cold traps? (i.e. low ecliptic inclination in orbital and rotational axes)
Both the Moon and Mercury have polar cold traps in polar craters, with signs of volatiles. This is of course not as interesting on a moon in the outer Solar System which consists of volatiles anyway. ...
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Why do Uranus' and Pluto's moons orbit the equator? What makes a moons' inclination tilt with the rotational axis of their planet?
Uranus and Pluto have their axes of rotation almost 90 degrees towards the ecliptic. But why do their moons tilt the same way?
Does it mean that their tilts were caused by passing near some external ...
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How does the sun move over the year in the sky of the Moon?
Wikipedia's section on the Moon's inclination says it is always 1.5° to the ecliptic. Does that mean that as seen from its surface, over the year the sun at zenith would move 1.5° to the north,...
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Inclination in Kepler's laws
So, you can determine the location of an object in an orbit at any given time via Kepler's laws, but how do you determine the orbital inclination at any given point in time?
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How can a planet have a 90° inclination?
Planetary systems as we understand it exist from a disk of mass when the parent star is young. That's why all our planets are in the same plane, or close to it. See also Why is the solar system ...
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How do I calculate the inclination of an object with an amateur telescope?
Suppose I would like to calculate the inclination of a satellite from the ecliptic. Would it be possible to do this with an amateur telescope? How would I go about doing so?
Note: A good answer ...
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If the tilt of the Earth changed, would the tropics latitude change too? [closed]
I wanted to know if the tilt of the earth were changed to 30 degrees would the tropics of cancer and Capricorn also both change to 30 degrees?
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iteration to cover the whole sky with right ascension, declination, angle
I am sure I get parts of the terminology wrong but if anyone can shed some light in the following:
I understand that for a given right ascension (RA) and declination (DEC), one has defined a ray (...
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