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Figure 15.14Three kinds of Milankovitch cycles (much exaggerated in these diagrams) affect the amount of solar radiation Earth receives. (a) Eccentricity is the degree of ellipticity of Earth’s orbit. (b) Tilt is the angle between Earth’s axis of rotation and the angle perpendicular to the orbital plane. (c) Precession is the wobble of the axis of rotation. One can imagine this motion by thinking of the wobble of a spinning top.