Ups and downs.(variations in the orbital planes of planets and the moon) From: Discover | Date: May 1, 1996| Author: Berman, Bob | COPYRIGHT 1996 Discover. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

The orbits of the moon and the planets are tilted with respect to the plane of the earth's orbit, which is called the ecliptic. A discussion of how this affects observations of the moon, Venus and Jupiter is presented.

Our solar system is almost flat, so the Earth, moon, and other planets orbit the sun in pretty much the same plane. But the orbits of the moon and planets aren't perfectly aligned, and this month the variations caused by that lack of alignment brew up some noteworthy...