What is the orbital inclination of the Moon relative to the ecliptic?

The Moon's orbital inclination relative to the ecliptic is about 5.14 degrees.

The ecliptic is the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun, projected across the sky. The Moon does not circle Earth exactly in that plane; its orbit is tilted by a mean angle of roughly 5.145 degrees, commonly rounded to 5.14 or 5.15 degrees.

This tilt is central to eclipse geometry. If the Moon orbited exactly along the ecliptic, every new Moon could produce a solar eclipse and every full Moon could produce a lunar eclipse. Instead, the Moon usually passes above or below the Sun's apparent path, and eclipses occur only when it is near one of the two orbital nodes.

The inclination is also different from several other familiar angles. Earth's axial tilt is about 23.4 degrees, and the Moon's orbital inclination relative to Earth's equator changes as the lunar orbit precesses. The Moon's orbital nodes complete a cycle in about 18.6 years, affecting long-term patterns of lunar declination and eclipses.