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An inclination of 63.4° is often called a critical inclination, when describing artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, because they have zero apogee drift. [3] An inclination of exactly 90° is a polar orbit, in which the spacecraft passes over the poles of the planet. An inclination greater than 90° and less than 180° is a retrograde orbit.
The point towards which the Earth in its solar orbit is directed at any given instant is known as the "apex of the Earth's way". [4] [5] From a vantage point above the north pole of either the Sun or Earth, Earth would appear to revolve in a counterclockwise direction around the Sun. From the same vantage point, both the Earth and the Sun would ...
Orbital inclination is the angle formed between the plane of an orbit and the equatorial plane of the Earth. The geographic latitudes covered by the ground track will range from –i to i, where i is the orbital inclination. [4] In other words, the greater the inclination of a satellite's orbit, the further north and south its ground track will ...
Earth's orbital plane is known as the ecliptic plane, and Earth's tilt is known to astronomers as the obliquity of the ecliptic, being the angle between the ecliptic and the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. [6] It is denoted by the Greek letter Epsilon ε. Earth currently has an axial tilt of about 23.44°. [7]
For Earth this means an orbital period of just under 12 hours. Such a satellite spends most of its time over two designated areas of the planet. An inclination of 63.4° is normally used to keep the perigee shift small. [15]
where is the orbital inclination, is the eccentricity, is mean motion in degrees per day, is the perturbing factor, is the radius of the Earth, is the semimajor axis, and ˙ is in degrees per day. To avoid this expenditure of fuel, the Tundra orbit uses an inclination of 63.4°, for which the factor ( 4 − 5 sin 2 i ) {\displaystyle (4-5 ...
where is the orbital inclination, is the eccentricity, is mean motion in degrees per day, is the perturbing factor, is the radius of the earth, is the semimajor axis, and ˙ is in degrees per day. To avoid this expenditure of fuel, the Molniya orbit uses an inclination of 63.4°, for which the factor 4 − 5 sin 2 i {\displaystyle 4-5\sin ...
The angle of the Earth's axial tilt with respect to the orbital plane (the obliquity of the ecliptic) varies between 22.1° and 24.5°, over a cycle of about 41,000 years. The current tilt is 23.44°, roughly halfway between its extreme values.