Expert: Ed - 4/7/2004

Question
Hi dear Ed,

My name is Peyman Parsa and I am emailing you from Vancouver, BC. Canada.

Would you please answer my question in regard to the orbital inclination degrees of planets? I am finishing my equations to determine the rotation of moons, planets and the Sun, and hopefully it will be done by the mid May. The inaccuracy of my equations is within half to one percent for planets, except for the Mars with three percent.

I am looking for the orbital inclination degrees of planets relative to Sun's equatorial plate. My problem is that the orbital inclination degrees that are relative to Earth's Ecliptic and are indicated with positive numbers reduce the accuracy of my equations. I am looking for real degrees of inclinations with minus or plus signs if it is relative to Earth's ecliptic. I saw in a diagram that Mars is located blew the Earth and Venus is above it. That means that Mars has a -1.8 degrees inclination relative to Earth's orbit, and relative to Sun's equator's plane its orbital inclination would be 9.1 whereas if the Mars was above the Earth with positive number, its inclination degree, relative to sun, would be 5.4. Then in this case my equation's inaccuracy would drop to 2 percent for Mars. In regard to the orbital inclination of the moons, since their reference plate is planets' equatorial plates, this problem is eliminated.
Also I don't know how to copy right my equations and how to publish them. Would you briefly help me in this regard too please?

I truly appreciate your respond and I thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Peyman Parsa

peymanparsa@hotmail.com


Answer
Peyman,

I am sorry, but I am going away for Easter tomorrow.  I have been busy and I have not checked my e-mail recently.  I should have told AllExperts that I am on vacation.  

Luckily, it sounds like you have some time remaining...  Try these excellent websites:

http://www.spenvis.oma.be/spenvis/help/background/coortran/coortran.html

http://sspg1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/Share/Coordinates/ct_home.htm

Mike Hapgood might be a better person than me, to answer your questions quickly.  As I mentioned, I am going away for a week or so, and I might not be checking my e-mail.  You may want to try this person:
http://jsoc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/pub/staff/mah.html

I don't understand why you need to copyright your work.  Are you a science writer?  If you'd like, you can e-mail me in person at edsugrue@hotmail.com

Best wishes,
Ed S.