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The change in position within the orbit is usually defined as the phase angle, ϕ, and is the change in true anomaly required between the spacecraft's current position to the final position. The phase angle can be converted in terms of time using Kepler's Equation: [2]
For some objects, such as the Moon (see lunar phases), Venus and Mercury the phase angle (as seen from the Earth) covers the full 0–180° range. The superior planets cover shorter ranges. For example, for Mars the maximum phase angle is about 45°. For Jupiter, the maximum is 11.1° and for Saturn 6°. [1]
In three dimensions, angular displacement is an entity with a direction and a magnitude. The direction specifies the axis of rotation, which always exists by virtue of the Euler's rotation theorem; the magnitude specifies the rotation in radians about that axis (using the right-hand rule to determine direction). This entity is called an axis-angle.
The case of θ = φ is called an isoclinic rotation, having eigenvalues e ±iθ repeated twice, so every vector is rotated through an angle θ. The trace of a rotation matrix is equal to the sum of its eigenvalues. For n = 2, a rotation by angle θ has trace 2 cos θ. For n = 3, a rotation around any axis by angle θ has trace 1 + 2 cos θ.
The angle rotation sequence is ψ, θ, φ. Note that in this case ψ > 90° and θ is a negative angle. Similarly for Euler angles, we use the Tait Bryan angles (in terms of flight dynamics): Heading – : rotation about the Z-axis; Pitch – : rotation about the new Y-axis
The angle θ and axis unit vector e define a rotation, concisely represented by the rotation vector θe.. In mathematics, the axis–angle representation parameterizes a rotation in a three-dimensional Euclidean space by two quantities: a unit vector e indicating the direction of an axis of rotation, and an angle of rotation θ describing the magnitude and sense (e.g., clockwise) of the ...
In astronomy, a phase curve describes the brightness of a reflecting body as a function of its phase angle (the arc subtended by the observer and the Sun as measured at the body). The brightness usually refers the object's absolute magnitude , which, in turn, is its apparent magnitude at a distance of one astronomical unit from the Earth and Sun.
The rotation vector is useful in some contexts, as it represents a three-dimensional rotation with only three scalar values (its components), representing the three degrees of freedom. This is also true for representations based on sequences of three Euler angles (see below). If the rotation angle θ is zero, the axis is not uniquely defined ...