That torque causes the direction (but for the most part not the angle of the tip) of Earth's axis to change slowly.  Looking down on Earth's orbit toward its north pole we see the planet going around the Sun in an anti-clockwise sense. Identify the directions of the angular momenta of the Earth's spin and its orbital motion and the change in the direction of Earth's axis in response to the torque on its equatorial bulge.  Looking down on  Earth we will see the direction of its axis swing clockwise around the perpendicular to the orbit's plane as this figure illustrates. Can you explain that?

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That torque causes the direction (but for the most part not the angle of the tip) of Earth's axis to change slowly.  Looking down on Earth's orbit toward its north pole we see the planet going around the Sun in an anti-clockwise sense. Identify the directions of the angular momenta of the Earth's spin and its orbital motion and the change in the direction of Earth's axis in response to the torque on its equatorial bulge.  Looking down on  Earth we will see the direction of its axis swing clockwise around the perpendicular to the orbit's plane as this figure illustrates. Can you explain that?

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