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If the four giant planets were on a straight line on the same side of the Sun, the combined center of mass would lie at about 1.17 solar radii, or just over 810,000 km, above the Sun's surface. [7] The calculations above are based on the mean distance between the bodies and yield the mean value r 1.
At θ = 180°, aphelion, the distance is maximum (by definition, aphelion is – invariably – perihelion plus 180°) ... as well as orbiting the center of mass ...
The apsides refer to the farthest (2) and nearest (3) points reached by an orbiting planetary body (2 and 3) with respect to a primary, or host, body (1). An apsis (from Ancient Greek ἁψίς (hapsís) 'arch, vault'; pl. apsides / ˈ æ p s ɪ ˌ d iː z / AP-sih-deez) [1] [2] is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body.
r a is the radius at apoapsis (also "apofocus", "aphelion", "apogee"), i.e., the farthest distance of the orbit to the center of mass of the system, which is a focus of the ellipse. r p is the radius at periapsis (or "perifocus" etc.), the closest distance.
is the distance between the orbiting body and center of mass. is the length of the semi-major axis. The velocity equation for a hyperbolic trajectory has either (+), or it is the same with the convention that in that case () is negative.
Figure 1. Typical elliptical path of a smaller mass m orbiting a much larger mass M. The larger mass is also moving on an elliptical orbit, but it is too small to be seen because M is much greater than m. The ends of the diameter indicate the apsides, the points of closest and farthest distance.
In astrodynamics, an orbit equation defines the path of orbiting body around central body relative to , without specifying position as a function of time.Under standard assumptions, a body moving under the influence of a force, directed to a central body, with a magnitude inversely proportional to the square of the distance (such as gravity), has an orbit that is a conic section (i.e. circular ...
where μ is the reduced mass and r is the relative position r 2 − r 1 (with these written taking the center of mass as the origin, and thus both parallel to r) the rate of change of the angular momentum L equals the net torque N = = ˙ ˙ + ¨ , and using the property of the vector cross product that v × w = 0 for any vectors v and w ...