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The eccentricity of an elliptical orbit can be used to obtain the ratio of the apoapsis radius to the periapsis radius: = (+) = + For Earth, orbital eccentricity e ≈ 0.016 71 , apoapsis is aphelion and periapsis is perihelion, relative to the Sun.
With eccentricity just over 1 the hyperbola is a sharp "v" shape. At e = 2 {\displaystyle e={\sqrt {2}}} the asymptotes are at right angles. With e > 2 {\displaystyle e>2} the asymptotes are more than 120° apart, and the periapsis distance is greater than the semi major axis.
In celestial mechanics, Lambert's problem is concerned with the determination of an orbit from two position vectors and the time of flight, posed in the 18th century by Johann Heinrich Lambert and formally solved with mathematical proof by Joseph-Louis Lagrange. It has important applications in the areas of rendezvous, targeting, guidance, and ...
In astrodynamics, an orbit equation defines the path of orbiting body around central body relative to , without specifying position as a function of time.Under standard assumptions, a body moving under the influence of a force, directed to a central body, with a magnitude inversely proportional to the square of the distance (such as gravity), has an orbit that is a conic section (i.e. circular ...
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: Centrifugal acceleration matches the acceleration due to gravity.
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
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.
The eccentricity can be defined as the ratio of the linear eccentricity to the semimajor axis a: that is, = (lacking a center, the linear eccentricity for parabolas is not defined). It is worth to note that a parabola can be treated as an ellipse or a hyperbola, but with one focal point at infinity .