The solar system’s invariable plane

Context. The dynamics of solar system objects, such as dwarf planets and asteroids, has become a well-established field of celestial mechanics in the past thirty years, owing to the improvements that have been made in observational techniques and numerical studies. In general, the ecliptic is taken as the reference plane in these studies, although there is no dynamical reason for doing so. In contrast, the invariable plane as originally defined by Laplace, seems to be a far more natural choice. In this context, the latest study of this plane dates back to Burkhardt.