Re: North Pole

[John Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>]

> While reading Totality: Eclipses of the Sun by Littman, Wilcox,
> and Espenak,  I learned that the moon's orbital plane is several
> degrees out of the ecliptic. So it would seem that the Earth-Moon
> center of mass is noticeably out of the ecliptic plane twice a
> month. This ought to cause Earth's orbital axis to precess.
>
> poj
The moon's orbital plane being out of the ecliptic does not say that the
earth-moon's orbital plane is out of the ecliptic.  It implies that the
earth's orbit bobs up and down with respect to the ecliptic because the
moon's period is shorter than the earth-moon's period.  The CM will not show
such bobbing, and the statement does not tell one whether or not the earth's
orbit is completely in the ecliptic.

However once could deduce from this that the moon's orbit precesses.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.