Editing Orbital inclination (section)

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{short description|Angle between a reference plane and the plane of an orbit}}
{{redirect|Inclination}}

[[File:Orbit1.svg|thumb|300px|Fig. 1: Orbital inclination represented by '''''i''''' (dark green), along with other fundamental [[orbital parameters]]]]
{{Astrodynamics}}
'''Orbital inclination''' measures the tilt of an object's [[orbit]] around a [[Astronomical object|celestial body]].  It is expressed as the [[angle]] between a [[Plane of reference|reference plane]] and the [[orbital plane]] or [[Axis of rotation|axis]] of direction of the orbiting object.

For a satellite orbiting the Earth directly above the [[Equator]], the plane of the satellite's orbit is the same as the Earth's equatorial plane, and the satellite's orbital inclination is 0°. The general case for a circular orbit is that it is tilted, spending half an orbit over the [[Northern Hemisphere|northern hemisphere]] and half over the southern. If the orbit swung between 20° north [[latitude]] and 20° south latitude, then its orbital inclination would be 20°.