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Mean Motion
In orbital mechanics, mean motion (represented by ''n'') is the angular speed required for a body to complete one orbit, assuming constant speed in a circular orbit which completes in the same time as the variable speed, elliptical orbit of the actual body. The concept applies equally well to a small body revolving about a large, massive primary body or to two relatively same-sized bodies revolving about a common center of mass. While nominally a mean, and theoretically so in the case of two-body motion, in practice the mean motion is not typically an average over time for the orbits of real bodies, which only approximate the two-body assumption. It is rather the instantaneous value which satisfies the above conditions as calculated from the current gravitational and geometric circumstances of the body's constantly-changing, perturbed orbit. Mean motion is used as an approximation of the actual orbital speed in making an initial calculation of the body's position in its orbit, f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbital Mechanics
Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. Orbital mechanics is a core discipline within space-mission design and control. Celestial mechanics treats more broadly the orbital dynamics of systems under the influence of gravity, including both spacecraft and natural astronomical bodies such as star systems, planets, moons, and comets. Orbital mechanics focuses on spacecraft trajectories, including orbital maneuvers, orbital plane changes, and interplanetary transfers, and is used by mission planners to predict the results of propulsive maneuvers. General relativity is a more exact theory than Newton's laws for calculating orbits, and it is sometimes necessary to use it for greater accuracy or in high-gravity situations (e.g. orbits ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Institute Of Physics Publishing
IOP Publishing (previously Institute of Physics Publishing) is the publishing company of the Institute of Physics. It provides publications through which scientific research is distributed worldwide, including journals, community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and books. The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support physics through the activities of the Institute. The main IOP Publishing headquarters is located in Bristol, England, and the North American headquarters is in Philadelphia, United States. It also has regional offices in, Mexico City, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Sydney. It employs over 400 staff. It was the first physics publisher to publish a journal on the internet. In 1994, the journal ''Classical and Quantum Gravity'' was published as a TeX file. In January 1996 the organization launched the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celestial Mechanics
Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to produce ephemeris data. History Modern analytic celestial mechanics started with Isaac Newton's Principia of 1687. The name "celestial mechanics" is more recent than that. Newton wrote that the field should be called "rational mechanics." The term "dynamics" came in a little later with Gottfried Leibniz, and over a century after Newton, Pierre-Simon Laplace introduced the term "celestial mechanics." Prior to Kepler there was little connection between exact, quantitative prediction of planetary positions, using geometrical or arithmetical techniques, and contemporary discussions of the physical causes of the planets' motion. Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was the first to closely integrate the predictive geom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two-body Problem
In classical mechanics, the two-body problem is to predict the motion of two massive objects which are abstractly viewed as point particles. The problem assumes that the two objects interact only with one another; the only force affecting each object arises from the other one, and all other objects are ignored. The most prominent case of the classical two-body problem is the gravitational case (see also Kepler problem), arising in astronomy for predicting the orbits (or escapes from orbit) of objects such as satellites, planets, and stars. A two-point-particle model of such a system nearly always describes its behavior well enough to provide useful insights and predictions. A simpler "one body" model, the " central-force problem", treats one object as the immobile source of a force acting on the other. One then seeks to predict the motion of the single remaining mobile object. Such an approximation can give useful results when one object is much more massive than the other (as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reduced Mass
In physics, the reduced mass is the "effective" Mass#Inertial mass, inertial mass appearing in the two-body problem of Newtonian mechanics. It is a quantity which allows the two-body problem to be solved as if it were a one-body problem. Note, however, that the mass determining the gravitational force is ''not'' reduced. In the computation, one mass ''can'' be replaced with the reduced mass, if this is compensated by replacing the other mass with the sum of both masses. The reduced mass is frequently denoted by \mu (Mu (letter), mu), although the standard gravitational parameter is also denoted by \mu (as are Mu (letter)#Physics and engineering, a number of other physical quantities). It has the dimensional analysis, dimensions of mass, and SI unit kg. Equation Given two bodies, one with mass ''m''1 and the other with mass ''m''2, the equivalent one-body problem, with the position of one body with respect to the other as the unknown, is that of a single body of mass :\mu = \c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Gravitational Parameter
In celestial mechanics, the standard gravitational parameter ''μ'' of a celestial body is the product of the gravitational constant ''G'' and the mass ''M'' of the bodies. For two bodies the parameter may be expressed as G(m1+m2), or as GM when one body is much larger than the other. \mu=GM \ For several objects in the Solar System, the value of ''μ'' is known to greater accuracy than either ''G'' or ''M''. The SI units of the standard gravitational parameter are . However, units of are frequently used in the scientific literature and in spacecraft navigation. Definition Small body orbiting a central body The central body in an orbital system can be defined as the one whose mass (''M'') is much larger than the mass of the orbiting body (''m''), or . This approximation is standard for planets orbiting the Sun or most moons and greatly simplifies equations. Under Newton's law of universal gravitation, if the distance between the bodies is ''r'', the force exerted on the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-major Axis
In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longest semidiameter or one half of the major axis, and thus runs from the centre, through a focus, and to the perimeter. The semi-minor axis (minor semiaxis) of an ellipse or hyperbola is a line segment that is at right angles with the semi-major axis and has one end at the center of the conic section. 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 of an ellipse is related to the semi-minor axis's length through the eccentricity and the semi-latus rectum \ell, as follows: The semi-major axis of a hyperbola is, depending on the convention, plus or minus one half of the distance between the two branches. Thus it is the distance from the center ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-major Axis
In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longest semidiameter or one half of the major axis, and thus runs from the centre, through a focus, and to the perimeter. The semi-minor axis (minor semiaxis) of an ellipse or hyperbola is a line segment that is at right angles with the semi-major axis and has one end at the center of the conic section. 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 of an ellipse is related to the semi-minor axis's length through the eccentricity and the semi-latus rectum \ell, as follows: The semi-major axis of a hyperbola is, depending on the convention, plus or minus one half of the distance between the two branches. Thus it is the distance from the center ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cube (algebra)
In arithmetic and algebra, the cube of a number is its third power, that is, the result of multiplying three instances of together. The cube of a number or any other mathematical expression is denoted by a superscript 3, for example or . The cube is also the number multiplied by its square: :. The ''cube function'' is the function (often denoted ) that maps a number to its cube. It is an odd function, as :. The volume of a geometric cube is the cube of its side length, giving rise to the name. The inverse operation that consists of finding a number whose cube is is called extracting the cube root of . It determines the side of the cube of a given volume. It is also raised to the one-third power. The graph of the cube function is known as the cubic parabola. Because the cube function is an odd function, this curve has a center of symmetry at the origin, but no axis of symmetry. In integers A cube number, or a perfect cube, or sometimes just a cube, is a number wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. For celestial objects in general, the sidereal period ( sidereal year) is referred to by the orbital period, determined by a 360° revolution of one body around its primary, e.g. Earth around the Sun, relative to the fixed stars projected in the sky. Orbital periods can be defined in several ways. The tropical period is more particularly about the position of the parent star. It is the basis for the solar year, and respectively the calendar year. The synodic period incorporates not only the orbital relation to the parent star, but also to other celestial objects, making it not a mere different approach to the orbit of an object around its parent, but a period of orbital relations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Square (algebra)
In mathematics, a square is the result of multiplication, multiplying a number by itself. The verb "to square" is used to denote this operation. Squaring is the same as exponentiation, raising to the power 2 (number), 2, and is denoted by a superscript 2; for instance, the square of 3 may be written as 32, which is the number 9. In some cases when superscripts are not available, as for instance in programming languages or plain text files, the notations ''x''^2 (caret) or ''x''**2 may be used in place of ''x''2. The adjective which corresponds to squaring is ''wikt:quadratic, quadratic''. The square of an integer may also be called a square number or a perfect square. In algebra, the operation of squaring is often generalized to polynomials, other expression (mathematics), expressions, or values in systems of mathematical values other than the numbers. For instance, the square of the linear function (calculus), linear polynomial is the quadratic polynomial . One of the imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kepler's Laws Of Planetary Motion
In astronomy, Kepler's laws of planetary motion, published by Johannes Kepler between 1609 and 1619, describe the orbits of planets around the Sun. The laws modified the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, replacing its circular orbits and epicycles with elliptical trajectories, and explaining how planetary velocities vary. The three laws state that: # The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci. # A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. # The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the length of the semi-major axis of its orbit. The elliptical orbits of planets were indicated by calculations of the orbit of Mars. From this, Kepler inferred that other bodies in the Solar System, including those farther away from the Sun, also have elliptical orbits. The second law helps to establish that when a planet is closer to the Sun, it travels faster. The third law ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
