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  2. Galactic year - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_year

    The galactic year, also known as a cosmic year, is the duration of time required for the Sun to orbit once around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. [1] One galactic year is approximately 225 million Earth years. [2]

  3. Oort constants - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_constants

    Figure 1: Geometry of the Oort constants derivation, with a field star close to the Sun in the midplane of the Galaxy. Consider a star in the midplane of the Galactic disk with Galactic longitude at a distance from the Sun. Assume that both the star and the Sun have circular orbits around the center of the Galaxy at radii of and from the Galactic Center and rotational velocities of and ...

  4. Orbital period - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_period

    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 .

  5. Sun-synchronous orbit - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-synchronous_orbit

    An orbit will be Sun-synchronous when the precession rate ρ = ⁠ dΩ / dt ⁠ equals the mean motion of the Earth about the Sun n E, which is 360° per sidereal year (1.990 968 71 × 10 −7 rad/s), so we must set n E = ⁠ ΔΩ E / T E ⁠ = ρ = ⁠ ΔΩ / T ⁠, where T E is the Earth orbital period, while T is the period of the spacecraft ...

  6. Milky Way - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

    The apex of the Sun's way, or the solar apex, is the direction that the Sun travels through space in the Milky Way. The general direction of the Sun's Galactic motion is towards the star Vega near the constellation of Hercules, at an angle of roughly 60 sky degrees to the direction of the Galactic Center. The Sun's orbit about the Milky Way is ...

  7. Proper motion - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_motion

    The Sun travels in a nearly circular orbit (the solar circle) about the center of the galaxy at a speed of about 220 km/s at a radius of 8,000 parsecs (26,000 ly) from Sagittarius A* [5] [6] which can be taken as the rate of rotation of the Milky Way itself at this radius. [7] [8]

  8. Kepler's laws of planetary motion - Wikipedia

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

    In astronomy, Kepler's laws of planetary motion, published by Johannes Kepler in 1609 (except the third law, which was fully published in 1619), describe the orbits of planets around the Sun. These laws replaced circular orbits and epicycles in the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus with elliptical orbits and explained how planetary ...

  9. Beta angle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_angle

    Beta angle ()In orbital mechanics, the beta angle is the angle between a satellite's orbital plane around Earth and the geocentric position of the Sun. [1] The beta angle determines the percentage of time that a satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) spends in direct sunlight, absorbing solar radiation. [2]