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In mathematics, the eccentricity of a conic section is a non-negative real number that uniquely characterizes its shape. One can think of the eccentricity as a measure of how much a conic section deviates from being circular. In particular: The eccentricity of a circle is 0. The eccentricity of an ellipse which is not a circle is between 0 and 1.
The mean eccentricity of an object is the average eccentricity as a result of perturbations over a given time period. Neptune currently has an instant (current epoch ) eccentricity of 0.011 3 , [ 11 ] but from 1800 to 2050 has a mean eccentricity of 0.008 59 .
For Kepler orbits the eccentricity vector is a constant of motion. Its main use is in the analysis of almost circular orbits, as perturbing (non-Keplerian) forces on an actual orbit will cause the osculating eccentricity vector to change continuously as opposed to the eccentricity and argument of periapsis parameters for which eccentricity zero ...
The eccentricity e is defined as: = . From Pythagoras's theorem applied to the triangle with r (a distance FP) as hypotenuse: = + () = () + ( + ) = + = () Thus, the radius (distance from the focus to point P) is related to the eccentric anomaly by the formula
The inclination is one of the six orbital elements describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit.It is the angle between the orbital plane and the plane of reference, normally stated in degrees.
Note that non-elliptic trajectories also exist, but are not closed, and are thus not orbits. If the eccentricity is greater than one, the trajectory is a hyperbola. If the eccentricity is equal to one, the trajectory is a parabola. Regardless of eccentricity, the orbit degenerates to a radial trajectory if the angular momentum equals zero.
In a stricter sense, it is a Kepler orbit with the eccentricity greater than 0 and less than 1 (thus excluding the circular orbit). In a wider sense, it is a Kepler orbit with negative energy. This includes the radial elliptic orbit, with eccentricity equal to 1. They are frequently used during various astrodynamic calculations.
The classical method of finding the position of an object in an elliptical orbit from a set of orbital elements is to calculate the mean anomaly by this equation, and then to solve Kepler's equation for the eccentric anomaly. Define ϖ as the longitude of the pericenter, the angular distance of the pericenter from a reference direction.