orbit
Sign in to saveright|thumb|Variation of orbital eccentricity
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Article
35 sectionsContents
- History
- Planetary orbits
- Principles
- Illustration
- Newton's laws
- Gravity and motion
- Energy and conic sections
- Kepler's laws
- Limitations of classical mechanics
- Formulation
- Newtonian analysis of orbital motion
- Force and acceleration
- Polar coordinates
- Kepler's second law
- Kepler's first law
- Kepler's third law
- Applying torque
- Relativistic orbital motion
- Specification
- Perturbations
- Radial, transverse and normal perturbations
- Orbital decay
- Oblateness
- Tidal locking
- Multiple gravitating bodies
- Approaches to many-body problems
- Radiation and magnetic fields
- Strange orbits
- Astrodynamics
- Earth orbits
- Scaling in gravity
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
right|thumb|Variation of orbital eccentricity
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object under the influence of an attracting force. Alternatively, it is known as an orbital revolution, because it is a rotation around an axis external to the moving body. Examples for orbits include the trajectory of a planet around a star, a natural satellite around a planet, or an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a planet, moon, asteroid, or Lagrange point. Normally, orbit refers to a regularly repeating trajectory, although it may also refer to a non-repeating trajectory. To a close approximation, planets, and satellites follow elliptic orbits, with the center of mass being orbited at a focal point of the ellipse, as described by Kepler's laws of planetary motion.