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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 ...
The eccentricity of Earth's orbit is currently about 0.016 7; its orbit is nearly circular. Neptune's and Venus's have even lower eccentricities of 0.008 6 and 0.006 8 respectively, the latter being the least orbital eccentricity of any planet in the Solar System.
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, orbiting at an average distance of 384 399 km (238,854 mi; 30 Earths across).It faces Earth always with the same side.This is a result of Earth's gravitational pull having synchronized the Moon's rotation period with its orbital period (lunar month) of 29.5 Earth days.
Geosynchronous orbit (GSO): An orbit around the Earth with a period equal to one sidereal day, which is Earth's average rotational period of 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.091 seconds. For a nearly circular orbit, this implies an altitude of approximately 35,786 kilometers (22,236 mi). The orbit's inclination and eccentricity may not necessarily be zero.
The instantaneous Earth–Moon distance, or distance to the Moon, is the distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon. In contrast, the Lunar distance ( LD or Δ ⊕ L {\textstyle \Delta _{\oplus L}} ), or Earth–Moon characteristic distance , is a unit of measure in astronomy .
Earth is about to get a new neighbor in the form of an asteroid. But this one won't be making an impact. Instead, it'll be what space enthusiasts have dubbed a mini-moon, and it will stick around ...
Called a "mini-moon" of sorts by some, it temporarily entered Earth's orbit on Sept. 29 from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which follows a similar orbital path around the sun as the Earth.
A small space rock that lingered near Earth last year and was referred to as its temporary “mini-moon” may actually be a chunk of the moon that chipped off thousands of years ago.