Does the moon orbit around the earths equator?
I’m guessing that the fact the moon orbits in the ecliptic plane is evidence that the moon was captured by the earth after both were formed. It’s actually thought that a very large meteor hit the very-young earth, breaking off a huge chunk that settled into orbit. Just be glad we weren’t around then.
From Wikipedia: The Moon differs from most satellites of other planets in that its orbit is close to the plane of the ecliptic, and not to the Earth’s equatorial plane. The lunar orbit plane is inclined to the ecliptic by 5.1°, whereas the Moon’s spin axis is inclined by only 1.5°. So in simple turns, the moon doesn’t rotate around the equator, just like you had surmised. This is one of those things that’s more easily explained (at least to me) by those great models most planetariums have in the lobby, or animation. It takes way too many words to describe…
