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There are no rearward loops in the Moon's solar orbit. Considering the Earth–Moon system as a binary planet, its centre of gravity is within Earth, about 4,671 km (2,902 miles) [24] or 73.3% of the Earth's radius from the centre of the Earth. This centre of gravity remains on the line between the centres of the Earth and Moon as the Earth ...
Every 18.6 years, the angle between the Moon's orbit and Earth's equator reaches a maximum of 28°36′, the sum of Earth's equatorial tilt (23°27′) and the Moon's orbital inclination (5°09′) to the ecliptic. This is called major lunar standstill. Around this time, the Moon's declination will vary from −28°36′ to +28°36 ...
Looking at the diagram, note that when the Moon's line of nodes (N1 & N2) rotates a little more than shown, and aligns with Earth's equator, the Moon's orbit will reach its steepest angle with the Earth's equator, and 9.3 years later it will be the shallowest: the 5.14° declination (tilt) of the Moon's orbit either adds to (major standstill ...
The Moon makes a complete orbit around Earth with respect to the fixed stars, its sidereal period, about once every 27.3 days. [h] However, because the Earth-Moon system moves at the same time in its orbit around the Sun, it takes slightly longer, 29.5 days, [i] [72] to return at the same lunar phase, completing a full cycle, as seen from Earth.
[1] [9] Although terms are often used interchangeably, technically a geosynchronous orbit matches the Earth's rotational period, but the definition does not require it to have zero orbital inclination to the equator, and thus is not stationary above a given point on the equator, but may oscillate north and south during the course of a day. Thus ...
Because the Earth's equator is itself inclined at an angle of about 23.4° to the ecliptic (the obliquity of the ecliptic, ), these effects combine to vary the inclination of the Moon's orbit to the equator by between 18.4° and 28.6° over the 18.6 year period.
That's because, like the Harvest Moon, its date is determined by the autumn equinox, one of the two times of year when the sun aligns with Earth's equator. The Harvest Moon is the full moon ...
Orion capsule of Artemis 1 above the Moon in December 2022. In astronomy and spaceflight, a lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is an orbit by an object around Earth's Moon. In general these orbits are not circular. When farthest from the Moon (at apoapsis) a spacecraft is said to be at apolune, apocynthion, or aposelene.