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The equatorial plane is the plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the central body. An inclination of 30° could also be described using an angle of 150°. The convention is that the normal orbit is prograde , an orbit in the same direction as the planet rotates.
An orbital plane can also be seen in relative to conic sections, in which the orbital path is defined as the intersection between a plane and a cone. Parabolic (1) and hyperbolic (3) orbits are escape orbits, whereas elliptical and circular orbits (2) are captive. The orbital plane of a revolving body is the geometric plane in which its orbit lies.
The Moon differs from most regular satellites of other planets in that its orbital plane is closer to the ecliptic plane instead of its primary's (in this case, Earth's equatorial plane). The Moon's orbital plane is inclined by about 5.1° with respect to the ecliptic plane, whereas Earth's equatorial plane is tilted by about 23.4° with ...
A geostationary equatorial orbit (GEO) is a circular geosynchronous orbit in the plane of the Earth's equator with a radius of approximately 42,164 km (26,199 mi) (measured from the center of the Earth). [21]: 156 A satellite in such an orbit is at an altitude of approximately 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above mean sea level. It maintains the same ...
A non-inclined orbit is an orbit coplanar with a plane of reference.The orbital inclination is 0° for prograde orbits, and π (180°) for retrograde ones. [citation needed]If the plane of reference is a massive spheroid body's equatorial plane, these orbits are called equatorial, and the non-inclined orbit is merely a special case of the near-equatorial orbit.
Equatorial orbit: A non-inclined orbit with respect to the equator. Near equatorial orbit: An orbit whose inclination with respect to the equatorial plane is nearly zero. This orbit allows for rapid revisit times (for a single orbiting spacecraft) of near equatorial ground sites.
This maneuver is also known as an orbital plane change as the plane of the orbit is tipped. This maneuver requires a change in the orbital velocity vector ( delta-v ) at the orbital nodes (i.e. the point where the initial and desired orbits intersect, the line of orbital nodes is defined by the intersection of the two orbital planes).
Top and side views of the plane of the ecliptic, showing planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Most of the planets orbit the Sun very nearly in the same plane in which Earth orbits, the ecliptic. Five planets (Earth included) lined up along the ecliptic in July 2010, illustrating how the planets orbit the Sun in nearly the same plane.