The orbital plane of a revolving body is the geometric plane in which its orbit lies. Three non-collinear points in space suffice to determine an orbital plane. A common example would be the positions of the centers of a massive body (host) and of an orbiting celestial body at two different times/points of its orbit.
The orbital plane is defined in relation to a reference plane by two parameters: inclination (i) and longitude of the ascending node (Ω).
By definition, the reference plane for the Solar System is usually considered to be Earth's orbital plane, which defines the ecliptic, the circular path on the celestial sphere that the Sun appears to follow over the course of a year.
In other cases, for instance a moon or artificial satellite orbiting another planet, it is convenient to define the inclination of the Moon's orbit as the angle between its orbital plane and the planet's equatorial plane.
The coordinate system defined that uses the orbital plane as the plane is known as the perifocal coordinate system.
For launch vehicles and artificial satellites, the orbital plane is a defining parameter of an orbit; as in general, it will take a very large amount of propellant to change the orbital plane of an object. Other parameters, such as the orbital period, the eccentricity of the orbit and the phase of the orbit are more easily changed by propulsion systems.
Orbital planes of satellites are perturbed by the non-spherical nature of the Earth's gravity. This causes the orbital plane of the satellite's orbit to slowly rotate around the Earth, depending on the angle the plane makes with the Earth's equator. For planes that are at a critical angle this can mean that the plane will track the Sun around the Earth, forming a Sun-synchronous orbit.
A launch vehicle's launch window is usually determined by the times when the target orbital plane intersects the launch site.
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The students understand the relevant experimental and theoretical concepts of the nanoscale science. The course move from basic concepts like quantum size effects to hot fields such as spin transp
La Physique Générale I (avancée) couvre la mécanique du point et du solide indéformable. Apprendre la mécanique, c'est apprendre à mettre sous forme mathématique un phénomène physique, en modélisant l
In celestial mechanics, the plane of reference (or reference plane) is the plane used to define orbital elements (positions). The two main orbital elements that are measured with respect to the plane of reference are the inclination and the longitude of the ascending node. Depending on the type of body being described, there are four different kinds of reference planes that are typically used: The ecliptic or invariable plane for planets, asteroids, comets, etc.
In celestial mechanics, a Kepler orbit (or Keplerian orbit, named after the German astronomer Johannes Kepler) is the motion of one body relative to another, as an ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola, which forms a two-dimensional orbital plane in three-dimensional space. A Kepler orbit can also form a straight line. It considers only the point-like gravitational attraction of two bodies, neglecting perturbations due to gravitational interactions with other objects, atmospheric drag, solar radiation pressure, a non-spherical central body, and so on.
The longitude of the ascending node (☊ or Ω) is one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space. It is the angle from a specified reference direction, called the origin of longitude, to the direction of the ascending node, as measured in a specified reference plane. The ascending node is the point where the orbit of the object passes through the plane of reference, as seen in the adjacent image.
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2024
We report on HD 213258, an Ap star that we recently identified as presenting a unique combination of rare, remarkable properties. Our study of this star is based on ESPaDOnS Stokes I and V data obtained at seven epochs spanning a time interval slightly sho ...