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You are here: Home / Space / What Is Orbital Tilt and How Do Astronomers Determine the Orbital Tilt of a Planet?

What Is Orbital Tilt and How Do Astronomers Determine the Orbital Tilt of a Planet?

April 23, 2020 by Karen Hill

Every planet orbits the Sun on a different plane.

The differences between orbital planes are measured by their angles to Earth’s orbital plane.

The difference is known as orbital tilt or incline.

For instance, Mars’s orbit is tilted at an angle of 1.85° to Earth’s orbital plane.

Orbital plane inclines range from 0.77° (Uranus) to 17.2° (Pluto).

If the planets all existed on the same orbital plane, there would be massive pileups on the heavenly highways.

Related Facts

  • What Is a Planet’s Orbital Plane and Why Does Each Planet In the Solar System Have a Different Orbital Plane?
  • What Is the Ninth Planet From the Sun, How Far Away Is Pluto, and Is Pluto a Planet, a Moon, or an Asteroid?
  • Where Is Planet X Located, Why Was Pluto Called Planet X, and Why Hasn’t Planet X Been Found?
  • Why Don’t Pluto and Neptune Collide When They Orbit the Sun and What Is the Planet Pluto’s Orbital Inclination?
  • Who Discovered the laws of planetary motion and that planets orbit around the sun in ellipses?
  • Why Does the Earth Tilt 23 Degrees On its Axis and Do Other Planets In the Solar System Tilt?

Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Is Opposition and What Does Opposition Mean In Positional Astronomy?
Next Post: What Are the Inferior and Superior Planets and What Is the Difference Between Superior and Inferior Planets? »

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