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Posted to the UseNet Newsgroup "alt.astronomy" "THE ANGLE OF THE DANGLE" Natural satellites orbit their primary planets directly above each planet's equator, no matter how much the planet is tilted (the exceptions are satellites that are captured asteroids). The Moon's orbit varies as much as 18-23 degrees off the Earth's equator. All of the major planets orbit the Sun on or very near the ecliptic plane. That's the flat plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. The largest orbital inclination of any major planet is Mercury's, which is off the ecliptic plane by 7 degrees. The Moon's orbit around the Sun is off the ecliptic by even less than Mercury's. Only 5 tiny little degrees separate planet Selene's orbit around the Earth and the Sun from the ecliptic!... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclination "For the Moon, measuring its inclination with respect to Earth's equatorial plane leads to a rapidly varying quantity and it makes more sense to measure it with respect to the ecliptic (i.e. the plane of the orbit that Earth and Moon track together around the Sun), a fairly constant quantity." An incline of five degrees is almost nothing! If you were to walk up a slope of five degrees, you'd hardly even notice the climb! Orbital inclination is one of several parameters which can describe a planet's orbit around the Sun, as well as a satellite's orbit around a planet. Without exception, when you see a table of satellite orbital parameters, every one of the satellites will be listed with an orbital inclination figure relative to their planet's equator--every one, that is, except our Selene. The listing for Earth's sister planet, Selene, is always its inclination off the ecliptic--5 degrees--just like the listings for all the other major planets in our Solar System. This is due to the rapidly varying 18-23 degrees of the Moon off of Earth's equator. And to the fact that the Moon's stable five degrees off the ecliptic is so much less than that. It's as if astronomers already "unofficially" recognize that our Moon is a major planet. They seem to already know that Selene is long-overdue for official reclassifying back to the status it possessed for hundreds and thousands of years... P L A N E T ! Major Planet! The next and last reason is the best reason--and the most mysterious! The most important thing the next reason will show you is that the one ancient Greeks called "Selene", and the Romans renamed "Luna" (both of them religious goddesses), Earth's sister planet, the Moon... s h o u l d n' t e v e n b e o u t t h e r e ! happy days and... starry starry nights! -- Indelibly yours, Paine P.S. Thank YOU for reading! P.P.S. Some secret sites (shh)... http://painellsworth.net http://savethechildren.org http://eBook-eDen.secretsgolden.com |