Was the rotational axis of Earth tilted from the start? If not, then did the bulging of Earth at the equator cause the rotational axis to tilt? If so then what is the physics behind it?
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- 2$\begingroup$ Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. $\endgroup$Community– Community Bot2025-07-11 05:48:40 +00:00Commented Jul 11 at 5:48
- $\begingroup$ Here's an answer I wrote to a related question on our sister site that you may find helpful: astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/26570/16685 $\endgroup$PM 2Ring– PM 2Ring2025-07-11 08:13:11 +00:00Commented Jul 11 at 8:13
- 2$\begingroup$ From solar planet tilts it is seen that our planets tilts standard deviation is $100\%$ of tilt mean. Hence tilts are distributed quite randomly. This and angular momentum conservation indicates that specific tilts must be formed by planets "bumping" from each other and/or by accretion disk accumulation into planets irregularities. $\endgroup$Agnius Vasiliauskas– Agnius Vasiliauskas2025-07-11 09:09:46 +00:00Commented Jul 11 at 9:09
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The tilt of the Earth's axis is believed to have resulted from the collision of a Mars-sized proto-planet with the Earth very early on in the Earth's history, around 4.5 billion years ago. This is known as the giant impact hypothesis. The same impact is thought to have ejected large parts of the Earth's crust and mantle, some of which remained in orbit around the Earth and coalesced to form the Moon.
