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A circular orbit is depicted in the top-left quadrant of this diagram, where the gravitational potential well of the central mass shows potential energy, and the kinetic energy of the orbital speed is shown in red. The height of the kinetic energy remains constant throughout the constant speed circular orbit.
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 ...
The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy , it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun , moons orbiting planets, exoplanets orbiting other stars , or binary stars .
For the special case of a circle, the lengths of the semi-axes are both equal to the radius of the circle. The length of the semi-major axis a of an ellipse is related to the semi-minor axis's length b through the eccentricity e and the semi-latus rectum ℓ {\displaystyle \ell } , as follows:
In orbital mechanics, Kepler's equation relates various geometric properties of the orbit of a body subject to a central force.. It was derived by Johannes Kepler in 1609 in Chapter 60 of his Astronomia nova, [1] [2] and in book V of his Epitome of Copernican Astronomy (1621) Kepler proposed an iterative solution to the equation.
Earth at seasonal points in its orbit (not to scale) Earth orbit (yellow) compared to a circle (gray) Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.60 million km (92.96 million mi), or 8.317 light-minutes, [1] in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from above the Northern Hemisphere.
The orbital period is equal to that for a circular orbit with the orbital radius equal to the semi-major axis (), For a given semi-major axis the orbital period does not depend on the eccentricity (See also: Kepler's third law).
In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit , values between 0 and 1 form an elliptic orbit , 1 is a parabolic escape orbit (or capture orbit), and greater than ...