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  2. Earth's orbit - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_orbit

    The point towards which the Earth in its solar orbit is directed at any given instant is known as the "apex of the Earth's way". [4] [5] From a vantage point above the north pole of either the Sun or Earth, Earth would appear to revolve in a counterclockwise direction around the Sun. From the same vantage point, both the Earth and the Sun would ...

  3. 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.

  4. Standard gravitational parameter - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_gravitational...

    During the 1970s to 1980s, the increasing number of artificial satellites in Earth orbit further facilitated high-precision measurements, and the relative uncertainty was decreased by another three orders of magnitude, to about 2 × 10 −9 (1 in 500 million) as of 1992. Measurement involves observations of the distances from the satellite to ...

  5. Characteristic energy - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristic_energy

    The characteristic energy with respect to Sun was negative, and MAVEN – instead of heading to infinity – entered an elliptical orbit around the Sun. But the maximal velocity on the new orbit could be approximated to 33.5 km/s by assuming that it reached practical "infinity" at 3.5 km/s and that such Earth-bound "infinity" also moves with ...

  6. Kepler's laws of planetary motion - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler's_laws_of_planetary...

    The same (blue) area is swept out in a fixed time period. The green arrow is velocity. The purple arrow directed towards the Sun is the acceleration. The other two purple arrows are acceleration components parallel and perpendicular to the velocity. The orbital radius and angular velocity of the planet in the elliptical orbit will vary.

  7. Orbital mechanics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_mechanics

    To escape the Solar System from a location at a distance from the Sun equal to the distance Sun–Earth, but not close to the Earth, requires around 42 km/s velocity, but there will be "partial credit" for the Earth's orbital velocity for spacecraft launched from Earth, if their further acceleration (due to the propulsion system) carries them ...

  8. Ecliptic - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecliptic

    For example, the Sun is north of the celestial equator for about 185 days of each year, and south of it for about 180 days. [6] The variation of orbital speed accounts for part of the equation of time. [7] Because of the movement of Earth around the Earth–Moon center of mass, the apparent path of the Sun wobbles slightly, with a period of ...

  9. Geocentric orbit - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_orbit

    The object's velocity equals the escape velocity, therefore it will escape the gravitational pull of the Earth and continue to travel with a velocity (relative to Earth) decelerating to 0. A spacecraft launched from Earth with this velocity would travel some distance away from it, but follow it around the Sun in the same heliocentric orbit. It ...