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Anorbital pole is either point at the ends of theorbital normal, an imaginaryline segment that runs through afocus of anorbit (of a revolving body like aplanet,moon orsatellite) and isperpendicular (ornormal) to theorbital plane. Projected onto thecelestial sphere, orbital poles are similar in concept tocelestial poles, but are based on the body's orbit instead of itsequator.

Thenorth orbital pole of a revolving body is defined by theright-hand rule. If the fingers of the right hand are curved along thedirection of orbital motion, with the thumb extended and oriented to be parallel to the orbitalaxis, then the direction the thumb points is defined to be the orbital north.

The poles ofEarth's orbit are referred to as theecliptic poles. For the remaining planets, the orbital pole inecliptic coordinates is given by thelongitude of the ascending node (☊) andinclination (i):ℓ = ☊ − 90°,b = 90° −i . In the following table, the planetary orbit poles are given in both celestial coordinates and the ecliptic coordinates for the Earth.

When anartificial satellite orbits close to another large body, it can only maintain continuous observations in areas near its orbital poles. The continuous viewing zone (CVZ) of theHubble Space Telescope lies inside roughly 24° of Hubble's orbital poles, whichprecess around the Earth's axis every 56 days.^[2]

Theecliptic is the plane on whichEarth orbits theSun. The ecliptic poles are the two points where the ecliptic axis, the imaginary lineperpendicular to the ecliptic,intersects thecelestial sphere.

The two ecliptic poles are mapped below.

The north ecliptic pole is inDraco.

The south ecliptic pole is inDorado.

Due toaxial precession, eithercelestial pole completes a circuit around the nearer ecliptic pole every 25,800 years.

As of 1 January 2000^[update], the positions of the ecliptic poles expressed inequatorial coordinates, as a consequence of Earth'saxial tilt, are the following:

• North:right ascension18^h 0^m 0.0^s (exact),declination +66° 33′ 38.55″
• South: right ascension6^h 0^m 0.0^s (exact), declination −66° 33′ 38.55″

The north ecliptic pole is located near theCat's Eye Nebula and the south ecliptic pole is located near theLarge Magellanic Cloud.

It is impossible anywhere on Earth for either ecliptic pole to be at thezenith in thenight sky. By definition, the ecliptic poles are located 90° from theSun's position. Therefore, whenever and wherever either ecliptic pole is directly overhead, the Sun must be on thehorizon. The ecliptic poles can contact the zenith only within theArctic andAntarctic circles.

Thegalactic coordinates of the north ecliptic pole can be calculated asℓ = 96.38°,b = 29.81° (seecelestial coordinate system).

• Celestial pole
• Invariable plane
• Polar alignment
• Pole star
• Poles of astronomical bodies

• Orbits
• Astronomical coordinate systems

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