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In celestial mechanics, a Kepler orbit (or Keplerian orbit, named after the German astronomer Johannes Kepler) is the motion of one body relative to another, as an ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola, which forms a two-dimensional orbital plane in three-dimensional space. A Kepler orbit can also form a straight line.
The fraction of an elliptical orbit 's period that has elapsed since the orbiting body passed periapsis, expressed as the angular distance from the pericenter which a fictitious body would have if it moved in a perfectly circular orbit in the same orbital period as the actual body in its elliptical orbit. Unlike the true anomaly, the mean ...
Using, for example, the "mean anomaly" instead of "mean anomaly at epoch" means that time t must be specified as a seventh orbital element. Sometimes it is assumed that mean anomaly is zero at the epoch (by choosing the appropriate definition of the epoch), leaving only the five other orbital elements to be specified.
In a two-body problem with inverse-square-law force, every orbit is a Kepler orbit. The eccentricity of this Kepler orbit is a non-negative number that defines its shape. The eccentricity may take the following values: Circular orbit: e = 0; Elliptic orbit: 0 < e < 1; Parabolic trajectory: e = 1; Hyperbolic trajectory: e > 1; The eccentricity e ...
Osculating orbit (inner, black) and perturbed orbit (red) In astronomy, and in particular in astrodynamics, the osculating orbit of an object in space at a given moment in time is the gravitational Kepler orbit (i.e. an elliptic or other conic one) that it would have around its central body if perturbations were absent. [1]
In astronomy, perturbation is the complex motion of a massive body subjected to forces other than the gravitational attraction of a single other massive body. [1] The other forces can include a third (fourth, fifth, etc.) body, resistance, as from an atmosphere, and the off-center attraction of an oblate or otherwise misshapen body.
Geostationary or geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO): An elliptic orbit where the perigee is at the altitude of a low Earth orbit (LEO) and the apogee at the altitude of a geostationary orbit. Hohmann transfer orbit : An orbital maneuver that moves a spacecraft from one circular orbit to another using two engine impulses .
An animation showing a low eccentricity orbit (near-circle, in red), and a high eccentricity orbit (ellipse, in purple). In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object [1] such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such ...