Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Tulip
Carl, thanks, I have not seen a graph of planetary solar latitudes before, just looking at vertical rather than horizontal cycles. It is interesting to see the erratic SSB latitude movements in 1950 and 1992. I hope you and Ray won't mind if I ask some dumb questions about the Y axis. When planets are at the top of the curve does this mean they are at the point on their orbit where their solar latitude is greatest, ie northern point vis-a-vis solar system ecliptic plane? And vice versa is the bottom of the curve when planets are at southmost point of their orbit? Are the inflection points the nodes of each planetary orbit? Do the four gas giants all have the same amplitude of solar latitude or are the data harmonised to put them on the same scale?
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Hi Robert
Those erratic movements are a bit surprising I agree. If these graphs are correct then I think that they must be due to the inner planets all shooting N or S of the Sun's equator at once at these times*, because the outer planets motions are clearly too slow and smooth to do that. As Carl said, the 4 gas giants are similarly inclined, at about 6 degrees to the solar equator. The maximum S and N latitudes for the large planets will be near longitudes 74+90 degrees and 74+270 degrees.
* Note that there is a period of a little over 11 years when the inner planets tend to roughly return to the same places in their orbits.
Mars 6 orbits = 11.28 years
Earth 11 orbits = 11.00 years
Venus 18 orbits = 11.07 years
Mercury 46 orbits = 11.08 years
So after 11.08 years all the inner planets are near a repeat. Of course this near repeat gets worse each subsequent 11 years, but will apply either side of a strong configuration.
So this makes the kinks even more surprising
Regards
Ray