What caused earth's axis to be tilted relative to the plane of the ecliptic?

Answer 1

What caused this obliquity (axial tilt) is still not clearly understood - and probably never will be.

During the early periods of the Earths formation, slight differences in the distribution of matter may well have caused irregularities in the balance of the planet, but this is unlikely to have caused such a large tilt.

The most likely explanation, is that early in the formation of the Earth, it was struck by a rogue planet - called Theia. (About the size of Mars). It struck, at an angle of about 45 degrees, (Debris from this collision made the Moon). This collision would almost certainly have pushed its obliquity (axial tilt) away from almost near vertical.

We only have to look at Mercury and Venus to see that their tilt is almost near to vertical,

It also seems, that the Moon also keeps the Earths tilt fairly constant. Without the Moon, the tilt would alter quite considerably over time.

See related link for more information.

Answer 2

There are currently more than 40 questions lined up on this site, all expressing

some form of consternation and wonderment at this puzzling riddle, and asking

how the Earth's 'tilt' could have come to be.

My answer is: Why would you expect that any planet's axis of rotation would have

to be perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, or to anything else for that matter ?

-- Mercury's is pretty close to perpendicular. But . . .

-- Venus' is inclined almost 174 degrees, and

-- Earth's is inclined about 23.5 degrees, and

-- Mars' is inclined about 25.2 degrees, and

-- Jupiter's is inclined about 3.1 degrees, and

-- Uranus' is inclined about 98 degrees, and

-- Neptune's is inclined about 28.3 degrees, and

-- Pluto's is inclined almost 123 degrees.

From one end of the solar system to the other, they're all over the place !

The anomaly, the odd-ball, the non-conformist, the one that stands out, the

one thing that is not like the others, and the one you should be asking about

if it bothers you, ought to be Mercury, and you should be asking "There's no

obvious reason why a planet's axis of rotation should have any particular

relation to the plane of its orbit, so how did it happen that Mercury's ... in

contrast to all the other planets ... just happened to wind up perpendicular to it ?"

That's what all these people should be asking.

Answer 3

Conservation of angular momentum. The primordial planetary nebula that formed our Sun and solar system was spinning. This was because as gas a dust fell into the nebula under the influence of gravity, it didn't fall STRAIGHT in, but fell in with a bit of a sideways vector. Add together the vectors of every atom of mass from all of the nearby supernovae, and you'll have the total angular momentum of the solar system.

This caused the planetary nebula to spin, slowly, but as gravity caused it to contract, the spin increased. As eddies and heavy spots formed, they became the centers of planets, and each one took on its own spin. (The spin of the whole solar system was what caused planets to form; without some spin, all the mass would have fallen into the center and become part of the Sun.)

The final piece that caused the Earth to spin - and which may have caused its axial tilt - was the collision between the proto-Earth and another planet, perhaps as large as Mars! - that formed the Earth. The debris from the collision probably formed the Moon, and the merging of the iron cores of the two planets gave Earth the heaviest and most dense core. Earth is STILL the most dense planet; only Venus comes close.

Answer 4

Well it moves around the sun so the tilted side would on one side would get winter because they would be away from the sun, and the tilted side facing the sun would get summer, don't know how we get spring and autumn sorry.

Answer 5

Uranus' axis of rotation moves along the ecliptic, which might appear "sideways" when compared with earth. Essentially, Uranus' axis is parallel with Uranus' rotation around the sun.

In contrast the Earth has an almost perpendicular axis (tilted 23 degrees) to its rotation around the sun.

Answer 6

Yes it does. Since the Earth is tilted relative to it's orbit, the angle at which the Sun's rays strike the ground changes as the Earth orbits the sun.

In July, in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is more directly overhead. The effect is that more of the Sun's light strikes the Northern hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. In the South, the angle is shallower, with the effect that less light strikes the Southern Hemisphere.

As the year progresses the tilt of the earth means that the Sun's angle in the sky will gradually change. By December the Southern Hemisphere is taking the brunt of the Sun's energy, creating Summer, with the opposite effect in the North.
Yes it is because if thte Northern half of the earth is tilted upward then its Summer for the Northern people up there. If the northern half is tilted downward then its winter then. Although if its in the middle closer to the bottom tilt would be fall and closer to an upper tilt would be Spring.
Yes, when the earth tilts toward the sun than it is spring summer or fall if it is turned away than it is winter

Answer 7

The seasonal changes would be fierce. At the height of summer the sun would circle the sky in ever larger arcs as one approached the tropics, but wouldn't set. The nights, however, would grow very cold.

Answer 8

Yes!

Comment: I like a brief answer, but sometimes you need a bit more. I would put it like this:

The Earth's axis is tilted at about 23.5 degrees away from a line that is perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.

That means the celestial equator must be tilted at about 23.5 degrees to the ecliptic. That answers the question, I think.

Answer 9

Lots and lots of small bodies aggregated to form the Earth from many different angles; all of them contributed to the tilt. It didn't form with its rotational axis perpendicular to its plane of revolution and then one hit tilted it. So ultimately, the answer is "all the bodies that formed it."

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Above is correct.

The Earth did not start off with a vertical rotation axis and then have this tipped over by something hitting it. That is NOT how it works,

It is important to understand that the axial tilt, known to astronomers as obliquity of the the rotation axis of any planet is intrinsically unstable and can and will vary by quite large amounts over relativity sort periods of time (without being hit by anything). An example of this sort of behavior is seen on Mars.

Indeed the Earth's axial tilt is remarkably stable and this is a result of the dampening affect of the presence of the Moon's gravity on the Earth.

If you are interested in this, look in the related link below for more detailed information.

Answer 10

The reason for the earth tilt is not fully understood, but it is generally believed it was caused by collisions with other planetary bodies during the earth's formation.

It does not tilt because of its axis. The axis is an invisible line running from north to south through the center of the earth. This axis is titled probably due to the mentioned collisions.