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  2. Orbital speed - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_speed

    In gravitationally bound systems, the orbital speed of an astronomical body or object (e.g. planet, moon, artificial satellite, spacecraft, or star) is the speed at which it orbits around either the barycenter (the combined center of mass) or, if one body is much more massive than the other bodies of the system combined, its speed relative to the center of mass of the most massive body.

  3. Orbital state vectors - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_state_vectors

    Orbital position vector, orbital velocity vector, other orbital elements. In astrodynamics and celestial dynamics, the orbital state vectors (sometimes state vectors) of an orbit are Cartesian vectors of position and velocity that together with their time () uniquely determine the trajectory of the orbiting body in space.

  4. Orbital mechanics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_mechanics

    From a circular orbit, thrust applied in a direction opposite to the satellite's motion changes the orbit to an elliptical one; the satellite will descend and reach the lowest orbital point (the periapse) at 180 degrees away from the firing point; then it will ascend back. The period of the resultant orbit will be less than that of the original ...

  5. Galaxy rotation curve - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_rotation_curve

    The rotation curve of a disc galaxy (also called a velocity curve) is a plot of the orbital speeds of visible stars or gas in that galaxy versus their radial distance from that galaxy's centre. It is typically rendered graphically as a plot , and the data observed from each side of a spiral galaxy are generally asymmetric, so that data from ...

  6. Orbit of the Moon - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit_of_the_Moon

    This synchronous rotation is only true on average because the Moon's orbit has a definite eccentricity. As a result, the angular velocity of the Moon varies as it orbits Earth and hence is not always equal to the Moon's rotational velocity which is more constant. When the Moon is at its perigee, its orbital motion is faster than its rotation.

  7. Retrograde and prograde motion - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrograde_and_prograde_motion

    A celestial object's axial tilt indicates whether the object's rotation is prograde or retrograde. Axial tilt is the angle between an object's rotation axis and a line perpendicular to its orbital plane passing through the object's centre. An object with an axial tilt up to 90 degrees is rotating in the same direction as its primary.

  8. Synchronous orbit - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_orbit

    T = rotational period of the body = Radius of orbit. By this formula one can find the stationary orbit of an object in relation to a given body. Orbital speed (how fast a satellite is moving through space) is calculated by multiplying the angular speed of the satellite by the orbital radius. [3]

  9. Oort constants - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_constants

    The rotation velocity is in between that of a solid body and of Keplerian rotation, and is the red dottedline in Figure 3. With a constant velocity, it follows that the radial derivative of is 0, = and therefore the Oort constants are,