Questions tagged [orbit]
Questions regarding an object 'falling around' another object, due to a combination of gravity and momentum.
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Is there a name for this type of orbit of a natural satellite?
Is there a name for the orbit of a natural satellite of a planet who's period is the same as the rotational period of the planet, but the orbital motion has the opposite sense than the planet's ...
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Why is Neptune true anomaly decreasing?
So I've been having fun with trying to determine where the perihelia of different planets are (using JPL Horizons).
And by the time I got to Saturn, something weird started happening. I've noticed ...
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How can we learn the inclination of the orbiting plane of the exoplanets using radial speed method?
I heard about the radial speed method to discover exoplanets a few years ago, however, these questions kept confusing me. If we know a planet star of mess $m$ is orbiting a star by interpreting the ...
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Precise declination of Moon
The moon follows 5.14 deg inclined path. the ecliptic and the Moon's path coincide are called 'nodes', and they travel around the ecliptic in a period of 18.66 years.
Once every 18.66 years, the ...
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How could the Moon have arisen from a collision - what would make for an elliptical orbit?
One serious theory advanced for the creation of Earth's moon is that it resulted from a collision.
However matter would be thrown off in all directions and some will fall back. How could a mass of ...
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How long will a ball of ice stay in orbit around Earth? [closed]
How big would a ball of frozen water need to be to last one orbit? How would atmospheric drag effect the ball of water?
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/32188/what-is-the-darkest-orbit-...
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Could a moon be passed from one planet's orbit to another?
Like if you had two planets that had a close orbital path could the moon be pulled away from the first planet?
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Can orbits change?
I was reading about how the planet Mercury changes its orbit. I was wondering if farther away planets, particularly ones with elongated orbits, could do that as well? Planets and objects such Halley's ...
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Doing Correct Calculations with Binary Star Systems
I've been experimenting with Binary Star System calculations but came across some issues.
I can correctly calculate the Semi-Major Axis of the Earth's orbit around the Sun by doing the equation:
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What is this elliptical orbit?
Most natural elliptical orbits are one sided as shown below from wiki.
What is an elliptical orbit where perigee and apogee are closer to being equal in distance than not?
I have learned that this ...
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How far from the Sun can an Earth TCO (temporarily captured orbiter) go after leaving?
Objects which are temporarily captured into an Earth-Moon system orbit (temporarily captured orbiters or TCOs) by definition will leave this orbit. While the term suggest an Earth orbit, it's really ...
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Problems with computing X,Y,Z positions of planets at a certain time in Unity3D (C#)
I'm trying to create a little program in Unity3D that positions the planets in 3D space at a given time. I've followed this document: http://stjarnhimlen.se/comp/ppcomp.html.
Using the data from ...
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What is wrong with my calculations of Venus' orbital period?
I am trying to use Kepler's second law to find the duration of Venus's orbit. I am assuming circular orbits (using Earth and Venus, so low eccentricity). Here is my process:
Assuming that the radius ...
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Can one detect from earth that angular momenta of its axial rotation and its orbital rotation are “almost parallel”?
I mean that the angle between these angular momenta is acute as opposed to obtuse (23.5 and not 180-23.5), so that the rotations are "roughly in the same direction".
Related but distinct question -- ...
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1answer
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Why is the time between equinoxes different?
The path of the Earth around the sun is described as being an ellipse, with the Sun being at one of the foci of the ellipse.
Since an ellipse, by definition, is symmetrical with respect to the foci, ...
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The specifics of two Earth-like worlds orbiting each other? [closed]
I'm currently looking into writing a story or two set on twin worlds, which I came to find out in my research is apparently not a new idea (Double planets?
Rocheworlds? Am I close?). But I want it ...
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Can a planet's changing tilt be aligned with the rotation around its star? [duplicate]
What I'm asking is if the tilt of a planet can "follow" the rotation around its star so that, for example, its north pole would always lean towards the star, and thus always be under daylight. The ...
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1answer
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How dependent is Earth is with the other Planets' gravity? [duplicate]
How would the Earth be affected if the Moon was destroyed as far as our orbit around the Sun? What if Mars or Jupiter was destroyed?
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1answer
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What is the Terra phase?
Does the Moon have a night and day like Earth? When sitting on the Moon and viewing the Earth what does it look like when the Earth goes through phases like the Lunar Phase? How does the sun travel ...
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Modeling planet rotations (time of day, obliqueness, etc.)
I created this solar system model using POV-Ray:
by following these instructions:
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/txt/aprx_pos_planets.pdf
The next thing I want to do is orient/rotate each globe correctly ...
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1answer
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What percentage of the celestial sphere can the Moon cover?
I was solving a task that said (paraphrasing):
What percentage of the night sky can the Moon cover during the entire
year, when observed from all points on Earth (what percentage of the
night ...
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How much magnetic attraction is there between the Sun and Earth?
How much magnetism is there between the Earth and Sun? Would the distance from the Sun differ for not the Earth iron core and how much?
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Table of dates for planet retrograde motion
Is there a table which shows the dates of the planets retrograde motion? I want to know at which date a certain planet will start the retrograde motion.
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1answer
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Would this effect occur if an ice planet was put into orbit or trajectory? [closed]
Imagine an earth getting warmer. Humans decide to make their homes ready for a voluntary ice age. All the space agencies work together to get an icy planet/moon into our orbit between us and the sun.
...
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1answer
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What is the difference between the Yarkovsky effect and YORP effect?
As far as I understand, both the Yarkovsky effect and the Yarkovsky–O'Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddack (YORP) effect exert forces upon bodies as a result of thermal photon radiation. How do both effects ...
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Why does earth not collide with the sun? [duplicate]
Gravity is most accurately described by the general theory of relativity (proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915) which describes gravity not as a force, but as a consequence of the curvature of ...
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4answers
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Why don't all perseid meteors follow the same trajectory?
Since these bits of debris crossing Earth's orbit have the same relative speed, why aren't they drawing parallel paths in the upper atmosphere? (consider one hour of observation to minimise Earth's ...
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1answer
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Lunar orbit distance
Can anyone calculate the distance the moon travels in a single year? I can calculate it as it is close to 2.4 million km, but I need adjustments as the earth is moving and so is the Sun. So, I need ...
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Computing orbit positions of Jovian Satellites / Moons using JPL data
I've been trying to build a model of the solar system in a game. Thus far I've succeeded in placing each of the planets in position using Keplerian elements and formulae from https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/...
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Weird 2 body swapping orbit
While messing around in https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/planet/. I came across a pretty stable orbit of 2 bodies around a star
Orbit yellow:
Orbit Blue:
full album: https://imgur.com/a/ruyenmY
Is ...
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3answers
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What might be the cause of the hot summer on Earth in 2018? [closed]
I have a question relating to the hot temperature this summer. There are 3 reasons that I can come up with:
Chemical, greenhouse effect.
Increased solar activity.
Orbital Resonance. The Earth is ...
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2answers
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Is it possible for a planet to have multiple moons in a nearly stationary orbit?
I have done a lot of searching online and while I have been able to find out that theoretically a moon could exist in a near-synchronous/stationary orbit, I am wondering if it is possible for multiple ...
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How did “oddball” Valetudo, Jupiter's new prograde moon, end up in a wider orbit?
I just saw this question and that got me to this NASA page which led me to this scientific article.
“Our other discovery is a real oddball and has an orbit like no other known Jovian moon,” ...
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The total number of solar eclipses in a century repeats roughly every 6th century
We know that on a longer time scale (millions of years) the orbits of planes are unstable and it is impossible to make predictions about eclipses millions of years into the future. But on a shorter ...
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Simple experimental evidence that Earth revolves around Sun
What are the simplest experiments or calculations that give evidence that the earth revolves around the sun? Can you please explain them and reference the history? Many simple explanations such as ...
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Why is the Innermost Stable Circular Orbit (ISCO) of a non-rotating black-hole 3 times the Schwarzschild radius?
If anyone has a derivation of this result, it would be appreciated greatly.
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Simple mathematical models of solar systems
I’m a hobbyist programmer with a profound love for procedural content generation. I’m working on a 2D space exploration game and while it’s not meant to simulate anything real, I’d like to give it a ...
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Terminology of Orbits
A hopefully simple terminology question: When you have an object that orbits another object in space, what do you call the object being orbited in relation to the object orbiting?
For instance, you ...
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1answer
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Are large body orbits self correcting?
If a rogue planet disrupts Earth's orbit slightly to cause a long winter or summer will the Earth's orbit normalize back close its original orbit over time? Could a Planet X or some other elliptical ...
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1answer
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Saturn's tropical year?
What is the value of Saturn's "tropical year" (as opposed to its "sidereal year").
I am seeing it listed as 10 days shorter (10,747 days) than the sidereal year (10,759.22 days).
How could this be ...
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Hypothetically, if the sun stays the same size forever, when will the Earth fall into it?
Hypothetically speaking (once again), if the Sun stays the same size forever (i.e. it somehow maintains a stable hydrogen supply and the helium product just disappears), how long would it take before ...
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1answer
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Is there a significant temperature difference on the moon from apogee to perigee or vice-versa?
Do those few thousand kilometers of difference going around the earth significantly affect the amount of thermal energy the moon receives from the sun to warm up its surface?
Also, are there more ...
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1answer
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What makes an exoplanet to orbit around its star backwards?And why did we consider our orbital movement to be forward?
I read somewhere that an exoplanet in the name of HAT-P-7B orbits its star backwards.Why?
And why did we consider our orbital movement to be forward?Is there some scientific reason to consider the ...
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Would things be exactly the same if the Sun was orbiting the Earth and the Earth was in the center of the Solar System?
Would things be the same if the Sun was orbiting Earth and the Earth was in the center of the Solar System, or would there be any big difference?
It seems like why people before thought the Earth was ...
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1answer
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Are the planets in our solar system in free fall?
If I’m correct, the International Space Station is in free fall, but is moving fast enough to keep it’s position. Assuming that is true, does that mean that some/all planets orbiting the Sun are in ...
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How far out can the sun keep celestial objects revolving?
Astronomers define the Solar System as the distance under the influence of gravity from the Sun.
I read that the Oort cloud is probably the farthest object that surrounds the sun. The sphere of this ...
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Does the relative motion between planets other than Venus and Earth form shapes such as the Flower of Venus?
I was reading about the Pentagram/Flower of Venus, and how it is caused by a 13:8 ratio between their orbits. I found this GIF particularly fascinating.
My question is, if the ratio changed, would ...
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Why does the Earth's axial tilt create an east-west variation in the analemma? [duplicate]
I've been reading about the Earth's analemma from Wikipedia, and I am having trouble visualizing one component. Let's build up to my question.
If the Earth had a circular orbit and no axial tilt, the ...
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How do we measure one complete orbit?
This is being asked from a lay-person point of view. However, please do not hesitate to give more detailed answers that require prior knowledge - if these answer the question more accurately.
My ...
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Can Two Stars of One Same Type Orbit Each Other?
This is a simple, textbook definition of a binary star orbit. One low-mass star orbits a higher-mass star in a narrow but definitive center. For example, the high-mass star would be our own sun--a G-...
