Why...see more detail?

  • Thread starter Thread starter eri
  • Start date Start date
Well, it's tilted about 23 degrees to its orbital plane - not sure where you get 33 degrees from.
 
It is my presumption that in our universe there is no point of reference such as top or bottom; left or right; forward or back. Why, then, is the earth depicted as 33 degrees off axis? From what is it off axis?
 
There are a lot of reference points, not none. Our galaxy rotates about a center forming a plane, more or less, and objects are stated to be above or below the galactic plane. The sun rotates and has an equator. Extrapolating that equatorial plane produces the solar plane, and planets move above and below it all the time. Similarly, the earth's equator can be compared to the solar plane. The equator (and thus the poles) is tilted with respect to the solar plane.

There is also a time point of reference, from the big bang to the creation of our solar system and its evolution to its present state.

The coorect way to describe the earth's tilt is not "off axis" but "off the vertical" from the solar plane. The earth's axis is the earth's axis. It's not "off" its own axis.
 
A 0 degree tilt would mean that the planets rotational axis is 90 degrees to the solar plane ("plane" that the planets orbit on) so a 33 degree tilt means its 33 degrees off of the 90 degree vertical axis and 57 degrees off the solar plane.
 
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