FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
The descending node is the point in the orbit of an object where it crosses the plane of the ecliptic from the north celestial hemisphere to the south celestial hemisphere in the direction of motion. Because of this, the descending node of the orbit of the Earth's moon is one of only two places where a lunar or solar eclipse can occur.
The line of nodes is the intersection of the object's orbital plane with the ecliptic, and runs between the ascending and descending nodes.
ascending node - the point on the orbit where the spacecraft crosses the equatorial plane moving from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.
descendingnode - the point in the orbit where the spacecraft crosses the equatorial plane moving from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere.
180 degrees from the descendingnode is the ascending node.
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