Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
An elliptical orbit is depicted in the top-right quadrant of this diagram, where the gravitational potential well of the central mass shows potential energy, and the kinetic energy of the orbital speed is shown in red. The height of the kinetic energy decreases as the orbiting body's speed decreases and distance increases according to Kepler's ...
An orbital plane can also be seen in relative to conic sections, in which the orbital path is defined as the intersection between a plane and a cone. Parabolic (1) and hyperbolic (3) orbits are escape orbits, whereas elliptical and circular orbits (2) are captive. The orbital plane of a revolving body is the geometric plane in which its orbit lies.
All bounded orbits where the gravity of a central body dominates are elliptical in nature. A special case of this is the circular orbit, which is an ellipse of zero eccentricity. The formula for the velocity of a body in a circular orbit at distance r from the center of gravity of mass M can be derived as follows:
For orbits outside the Solar System, the plane tangent to the celestial sphere at the point of interest (called the plane of the sky) as the reference plane, and north (i.e. the perpendicular projection of the direction from the observer to the north celestial pole onto the plane of the sky) as the origin of longitude. The angle is measured ...
An elliptic Kepler orbit with an eccentricity of 0.7, a parabolic Kepler orbit and a hyperbolic Kepler orbit with an eccentricity of 1.3. The distance to the focal point is a function of the polar angle relative to the horizontal line as given by the equation ()
The elliptical orbits of planets were indicated by calculations of the orbit of Mars. From this, Kepler inferred that other bodies in the Solar System, including those farther away from the Sun, also have elliptical orbits. The second law establishes that when a planet is closer to the Sun, it travels faster.
Harmonic and subharmonic orbits are special types of such closed orbits. A closed trajectory is called a harmonic orbit if k is an integer, i.e., if n = 1 in the formula k = m / n . For example, if k = 3 (green planet in Figures 1 and 4, green orbit in Figure 9), the resulting orbit is the third harmonic of the original orbit.
The ecliptic or invariable plane for planets, asteroids, comets, etc. within the Solar System, as these bodies generally have orbits that lie close to the ecliptic. The equatorial plane of the orbited body for satellites orbiting with small semi-major axes; The local Laplace plane for satellites orbiting with intermediate-to-large semi-major axes