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Originally Posted by tofu
aw man, the first time in my life that I'm wrong and wouldn't you know, toseek is there! :wink:
j/k. thanks for the correction. I'm going to do some googling and see what the complete history of the cape is. I'm not aware of any mechanism that would change the inclination of an orbit except for interation with another body, and tidal forces. When you say the moon's inclination changes, are you sure you're not thinking of libration?
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The Moon's inclination is relative to the ecliptic, not the equator. So as the orbit precesses around (which takes 18.6 years, not a month - I was wrong about that), it can add or subtract from the ecliptic's inclination depending on whether the Moon's inclination is the same as or opposite to the ecliptic's inclination. However, you are correct in that the inclination relative to the ecliptic doesn't change.