Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Posters | ScienceViews | Science Fiction Timelines |

PHOTO INDEX OF
PRIMARY TARGETS
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
EARTH
JUPITER
KUIPER BELT
MARS
MERCURY
METEORITES
NEPTUNE
OORT CLOUD
PLUTO
SATURN
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SUN
URANUS
VENUS
ORDER PRINTS

OTHER PHOTO INDEXES
ALL TARGETS
PHOTO CATEGORIES

SCIENCEVIEWS
AMERICAN INDIAN
AMPHIBIANS
BIRDS
BUGS
FINE ART
FOSSILS
THE ISLANDS
HISTORICAL PHOTOS
MAMMALS
OTHER
PARKS
PLANTS
RELIGIOUS
REPTILES
SCIENCEVIEWS PRINTS

Order Print

Obliquity of the Nine Planets

Target Name:  Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Spacecraft:  Voyager, Viking, Mariner 10,
Produced by:  Calvin J. Hamilton
Copyright: © 1999 Calvin J. Hamilton
Date Released: 27 February 1999
(Publisher Permission Request)

Related Document
Download Options

NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
obliquity.jpgJPEG1130 x 23850K
obliquity.jpgJPEG9040 x 1900914K
obliquity.tifTIFF9040 x 19004M

This illustration shows the obliquity of the nine planets. Obliquity is the angle between a planet's equatorial plane and its orbital plane. By International Astronomical Union (IAU) convention, a planet's north pole lies above the ecliptic plane. By this convention, Venus, Uranus, and Pluto have a retrograde rotation, or a rotation that is in the opposite direction from the other planets. The following table lists the obliquity and rotation period of each of the planets.

ObliquityRotation Period (hrs)
Mercury0.1°1407.5
Venus177.4°5832.5
Earth23.45°23.9345
Mars25.19°24.623
Jupiter3.12°9.925
Saturn26.73°10.656
Uranus97.86°17.24
Neptune29.56°16.11
Pluto119.6°153.29

This image is © copyright 1999 by Calvin J. Hamilton.

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.