# Tag Info

1

This is a supplemental answer for now because while we know that a two body orbit can be reduced to a one body orbit around a central potential, doing that here will be a little distracting and I think the result for the one body in central potential looks cleaner. See also answers to Can the radial oscillations of an elliptical orbit be solved using a ...

2

The answer depends: how accurate is the physics you consider? Considering the symmetric system postulated in other answers/comments, one with two spherically-symmetric bodies of equal masses, orbiting their barycenter: if you use only Newtonian physics, empty the universe of all masses other than the ones you're focusing on, and make the bodies perfectly ...

4

You would need a perfect two body system, a perfect central body and a perfect spacecraft. No other planets or stars influencing the orbit. The central body should be a sphere with constant density or at least spherical symmetry. You need a perfect measurement of orbital parameters. The thrusters of the spacecraft needed for circularation of the orbit ...

8

If you define perfection as absolutely zero eccentricity then perfection is impossible. There will always be eccentricity in an orbit, even if it is very small. Orbits vary due to: Spacecraft system inaccuracy: no spacecraft is perfect, no matter how accurate Changes in the density of the orbited planet Gravitational influence of other celestial bodies: my ...

2

The distance from the focus of attraction of an orbit can be expressed as a function of the true anomaly (angle) given by $r(\theta)=a\frac{1-e^2}{1+ecos(\theta)}$, where $a$ is the semi-major axis and $e$ is the eccentricity.

8

What you are looking for is called orbit determination, and in particular batch least squares orbit determination. To learn about it I can recommend Statistical Orbit Determination by Bob Schutz, Byron Tapley and George H. Born. I understand that you want to try to do it yourself. Nevertheless, if at some point you are looking to do it with software, it is ...

-3

Yes, I believe it is. A mass is stationary in space if its momentum is equal in all directions. It is unlikely we will ever observe a stationary mass, because there are so many different components of motion, ranging from Earth's rotation to the movement of galaxy clusters. Update: I will try to make this clearer. Consider any axis through the centre of ...

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