Questions tagged [eccentric-orbit]
Questions about orbits with high eccentricities, which deviate greatly from perfect circles.
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Can there be multiple periapsides?
Consider the following image of a barycentric orbit of a binary star system.
I could draw their relative orbits by drawing a line connecting both bodies at each point in their rotation.
In this ...
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Find position of orbiting body along orbit efficiently
I'm coding a game, and a fundamental mechanic is celestial bodies moving in elliptical, Keplerian orbits around a single gravitational point in a planetary system (not our solar system). The bodies ...
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What are the orbital velocities of the other planets? For objects in a 'Low-Earth-Orbit' around planets other than Earth, e.g.?
I was pondering this question recently, but most sites I can find only mention the speeds/velocities of the planets around the Sun when I look for 'orbital velocities' of the planets.
I tried ...
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Velocity Verlet algorithm creating odd orbits
I am using the velocity Verlet integration to make an N-Body simulator but the results are odd. If I use simple Newtonian physics I get a closed orbit (btw im testing with 2 planets at first) but if I ...
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Confused about the derivation of the x co-ord of the focus in the Lambert solution? [closed]
I'm looking into how the Lambert solution works but there's one bit I'm stuck on. From Wikipedia's Lambert's problem; Solution for an assumed elliptic transfer orbit (starting at Eq. 11):
I don't ...
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What is the difference between barycentric-centered and heliocentric-centered coordinates?
When talking about celestial bodies orbiting the sun with a decently circular orbit or small aphelion, the heliocentric orbital parameters are almost identical to the barycentric parameters. However, ...
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Neptune's eccentricity stability
Will Neptune's orbital eccentricity remain lower than earth's forever?
It currently is at around 0.008, compared to Earth's 0.0167.
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Lagrange points for bodies in elliptical orbits?
Lagrange points are points of relative stability near the orbit of another, more massive body. Most of the examples of such points regard orbits with relatively low eccentricity. However, after ...
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derivation of binary mass function for eccentric orbit
When investigating methods to detect exoplanets, I learned about binary mass function(BMF) which could be applied to obtain radial velocity and the mass. I've derived BMF for a circular orbit, but I ...
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How can I find the width of an orbit knowing some values?
I need to find the width/x-radius of an orbit, which is ellipse shaped, knowing variables like the orbit's length(perihelion + aphelion in this case) and the eccentricity. I am not sure if this is ...
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Why are asteroids with circular orbits rare?
Regarding this excellent question by Swike: Why are asteroids with zero orbital inclination rare?, I recently proposed that orbits with zero inclination are rare as a natural result of the statistical ...
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The newly discovered comet NEOWISE has been given the name C/2020 F3. What is the meaning of the F3 and the C in this name?
The new comet C/2020 F3 was first spotted by NASA's NEOWISE satellite in March 2020.
It is now visible in the NE sky just before dawn. The C may refer to it's non-periodic nature (so far). What does ...
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Is the process responsible for Triton's nearly perfect circular orbit going to happen in my fictional world?
First of all, I'd like to point out that I'm a worldbuilder and I like my worlds to be as physically possible as... possible.
I am in the process of building a world with a habitable moon orbiting ...
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Could Eris have a permanent atmosphere?
In Wikipedia they write that Eris has an atmosphere when around perihelion (close to the Sun) which collapses when Eris moves away from the Sun. So it behaves similar to a comet's tail. However, they ...
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Kepler's equation and eccentric anomaly
From the wiki article about eccentric anomaly follows:
$$\cos E = \frac{x}{a}$$
$$\sin E = \frac{y}{b}$$
where E - eccentric anomaly, a - semi-major axis, b - semi-minor axis, P = P(x,y) a point on ...
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What kind of effects can maintain Uranus' rings' eccentricities?
The recent paper Thermal Emission from the Uranian Ring System has been in the news recently. The introduction mentions:
The ε ring, the brightest and most massive of the narrow rings, was shown to ...
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What maintains the high orbital eccentricity of many exo-planets near their sun?
Over the last decade we've discovered that many exoplanets not only have highly eccentric orbits, but also orbit very close to their sun. This is true of many classes of stars.
I definitely have a ...
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How close to circular is the Earth's equator
Earth's orbit is about 99% circular. How circular is Earth around the equator? I know it bulges around the equator and is a spheroid. I also know it is not smooth and has oceans and mountains and all ...
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How to mathematically describe a planet's eccentric orbit?
Is there a formula for describing a planet's position along an eccentric orbit over time? I am particularly interested in the elliptical case (0 < e < 1).
I understand that the planet has a ...
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How would one calculate the synodic period of the Earth and an elliptical orbit?
For example, when would someone with a telescope be able to see Starman and his Roadster (when will the Tesla roadster's elliptical orbit cross ours again, and how would that be calculated?)
For two ...
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snapshot of solar system
I am working on a little project where I want to simulate the solar system to teach myself working with python and OOP.
I want to calculate the orbits "real", from tangential velocities and ...
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Can one approximate the semi-major axis of an orbit as the average orbital distance for eccentric orbits?
Kepler's 3rd Law (regarding the relation between orbital period and the semi-major axis of an orbit) applies to all elliptical orbits. But as I understand it, the only reason it is safe to use the ...
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Is the eccentricity of a planets orbit relevant to finding whether the distance between said planet and its host star determines seasons?
The tilt of the Earth is the main factor that determines the seasons. It's also true that the eccentricity of Earth's orbit is very close to zero, implying that aphelion and perihelion distances are ...
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Does the Giant Impact Hypothesis explain how the Moon circularized its orbit?
I just read most of Wikipedia's article on the Giant Impact Hypothesis. Basically a large object impacts Earth and creates debris that soon coalesces into the Moon.
But there is something I did not ...
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Average effect of a planet on a comet
I'm considering a problem involving star S, planet A, and a comet B. The orbits of the planet and comet are eccentric, with eccentricities $e_A$ and $e_B$. I'm trying to calculate the average change ...
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Can the Moon provide momentum to an object in Earth's orbit? Gravity Assisted Boost [closed]
Can a satellite maintain an equatorial orbit around Earth near the Moon's orbit to receive partial gravitational boosts by gaining momentum as the satellite passes though the Moon's gravity well?
I'...
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On gravitational wave radiation and arrangement of galaxies post- big bang
Orbits of planets and stars decay due to gravitational wave radiation. An elliptical orbit would become more circular with time. This is especially observed well in binary systems.
Taking the example ...
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Actual observable horizon for satellites on an orbit line map?
On a casual star walk, (for comparison of identifying different objects) I witnessed some meteors, quite a few satellites gliding on their smooth and straight trajectories, and some airplanes with ...
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Would we be able to feel the acceleration of a planet with a highly eccentric orbit?
Even though our Earth moves on average 67,000 miles per hour around the Sun, we cannot feel its movement since its speed is fairly constant. More precisely, its change in speed is very low and our ...
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Why do planets move in an elliptical orbit? [duplicate]
I am a student of class 9 and recently came to know about kepler's law of planetary motion and got confused about the foci and elliptical orbits of planets and some stars.
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Orbital eccentricity variation of the other planets?
On Earth, it's fairly well published, mostly in climate change related articles, that the Earth's orbital eccentricity operates on a 413,000 year cycle with roughly 90,000–125,000 year variation ...
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How does 'centre of mass' concept work?
We know that two celestial bodies rotate around a center of mass. How does this concept work in case of solar systems where there are several planets versus one/two stars? (Even if the center of mass ...
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attractors of Mercury's spin-orbit relation
Mercury rotates at such a rate that the Sun appears to stand nearly still at perihelion, when the tide is strongest.
Is there a mechanism that tends to adjust the orbital eccentricity to improve the ...
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How did the moon's orbit become eccentric?
The Moon's orbit is more eccentric, 0.0549, than most planets. I can understand that planets get eccentric by disturbing each other like under the late heavy bombardment. And likewise for multiple ...
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Orbiting and landing on non-sperical objects
If we orbit a non-spherical asteroid or moon at a sufficient distance I believe that we can consider it to be a point mass. Therefore we can take up a conventional orbit.
Assuming our lander craft is ...
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Why didn't Johannes Kepler use data about more planets?
In Astronomia Nova (1609) Johannes Kepler used observations of Mars in order to refute circular orbits. Throughout Astronomia Nova he hardly even mentions other celestial objects than Mars, Earth and ...
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Are there a lot of collisions between stars in the core of the galaxy?
I'm reading on Wikipedia about Halo Stars that orbit the center of the galaxy at a high inclination away from the plane of the Milky Way. It seems that at some point, these stars must dive back into ...
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Determining effect of small variable force on planetary perihelion precession
Is there an analytical technique for determining the effect of a small variable transverse acceleration upon the rate of aspides precession (strictly not a precession but rotation of the line of ...
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Why Do Planets Revolve Faster When they Are Closer to Their Parent Star?
According to Kepler's second law: A planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times (A simple definition). This means that if the orbit is somewhat eccentric, the planet will move faster when on the ...
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