Ernie Wright wrote in message ...
AA Institute wrote:

-60° 50' declination.
Is there an easy calculation to work out how many degrees that
direction is off the ecliptic plane of our solar system?

snip
Approximate current ecliptic coordinates for Alpha Centauri are

beta = -42.6°
lamda = 239.5°

But don't take my word for it. I just did this on a calculator and may
have gotten it wrong, and I haven't told you the epoch or whether I
accounted for nutation. You'll get more satisfaction from understanding
and doing the calculation yourself.

- Ernie http://home.comcast.net/~erniew

Thanks for confirming; yes I made it -42.6 degrees based on the
obliquity, R.A. & Dec, for the current epoch around 2000.0-ish.

The dynamics are quite complex and moving over time, hence if we're
launching a hypothetical starship in a future era the variables are
bound to be radically different by then. It just serves as an
illustration for now.

Abdul