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It may also refer to the time it takes a satellite orbiting a planet or moon to complete one orbit. For celestial objects in general, the orbital period is determined by a 360° revolution of one body around its primary, e.g. Earth around the Sun. Periods in astronomy are expressed in units of time, usually hours, days, or years.
In orbital mechanics, mean motion (represented by n) is the angular speed required for a body to complete one orbit, assuming constant speed in a circular orbit which completes in the same time as the variable speed, elliptical orbit of the actual body. [1]
where M 0 is the mean anomaly at the epoch t 0, which may or may not coincide with τ, the time of pericenter passage. 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.
Using, for example, the "mean anomaly" instead of "mean anomaly at epoch" means that the epoch time t must be specified as a seventh orbital element. Alternatively the "time of periapsis passage", T 0, can be specified in place of the typical epoch time. This removes the need to specify the mean anomaly at epoch, as it is assumed to be zero.
The time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. For objects in the Solar System, the orbital period is often referred to as the sidereal period. orbital plane The imaginary geometric plane defined by the orbit of an astronomical body around its primary.
Assume the following values for an Earth centered Kepler orbit r 1 = 10000 km; r 2 = 16000 km; α = 100° These are the numerical values that correspond to figures 1, 2, and 3. Selecting the parameter y as 30000 km one gets a transfer time of 3072 seconds assuming the gravitational constant to be = 398603 km 3 /s 2. Corresponding orbital ...
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Define the mean anomaly, M, as the angular distance from the pericenter which the body would have if it moved in a circular orbit, in the same orbital period as the actual body in its elliptical orbit. From these definitions, the mean longitude, L, is the angular distance the body would have from the reference direction if it moved with uniform ...