Monday, November 20, 2017

the view from 63

Rhonda asked me if our solar system plane (the ecliptic) was at the same angle as the plane of the galaxy. Nope. I knew it wasn't. But I had to look it up.

63 degrees.

Which makes sense! When you factor in the tilt of the Earth to the ecliptic, that puts the galaxy at nearly 90. That's why are certain times of the year, the Milky Way goes straight overhead.

I also said that for all other systems, it would be random. Every exosolar system would be different.

No comments: