Re: Angle or planetary orbiting paths - help

From: Laura (laura_at_nospam.me)
Date: 06/09/04 

Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 06:17:10 +0200

"Picilli" <picilli@mdi.ca> wrote in message
news:lotxc.2923$Jz6.2727@fe39.usenetserver.com...
> I remember from school (some 30 years ago) not all planets rotate
> around our Sun under the exactly same angle in their orbiting surface,
> there is a planet whose orbiting path is radically elevated, but I
> don't remember which one, Mercury or Pluto, and what's the difference
> measured in degrees.
>
> Please someone point to the link where I can read more about it, I was
> Googling unsuccesfully for about thirty minutes.
>
> Thank you.

It's called the ecliptic plane, and it's Pluto that diverges from it a
signigicant amount. All other planets diverge a little bit, too, though -
all except Earth, because the ecliptic is defined as the apparent orbit of
the sun around the earth (really the orbit of the earth around the sun of
course). It is a very old concept, and so the zodiac is defined as the
constellations that the sun appears to pass through.

I'm sure you can find more by googling "Ecliptic", but here's a link:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/eclip.html

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