Knowra Orbit Orbit An orbit is the path followed by an object under the gravitational influence of another body. Its shape and motion depend on gravity, velocity, and the bodies involved.
Kepler's laws of planetary motion : Three mathematical laws describe how planets move around the Sun. They relate an orbit’s shape, speed, and period to the central body.
Angular momentum : A conserved quantity measuring rotational motion, determined by position and momentum. Its conservation helps explain why orbital motion stays in a plane and sweeps equal areas.
Geostationary orbit : A circular equatorial Earth orbit in which a satellite matches Earth's rotation and appears fixed in the sky. It lets communications and weather satellites continuously cover the same region.
Hyperbolic trajectory : An unbound gravitational path with eccentricity greater than one, followed by an object that escapes its primary. Unlike a closed orbit, it passes the primary once and continues outward indefinitely.
Newton's law of universal gravitation : A law stating that every mass attracts every other mass with force proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to distance squared. It supplies the force that bends a moving object into an orbit.
Gravitational parameter : The product of a body's gravitational constant and its mass, commonly written μ. This single quantity sets orbital speeds and periods in the two-body approximation.
Low Earth orbit : An Earth-centered orbit at relatively low altitude, commonly below about 2,000 kilometers. Its proximity supports crewed stations, Earth observation, and many satellite constellations.
Lagrange point : A location in a rotating two-body system where gravitational and inertial effects allow a small object to remain stationary relative to both bodies. It is a dynamical equilibrium location, not a path around a body.
Orbital eccentricity : A dimensionless measure of how much an orbit differs from a circle. It distinguishes circular, elliptical, parabolic, and hyperbolic orbital paths.
Elliptic orbit : A bound orbital path shaped as an ellipse, with the attracting body at one focus. Most planetary and satellite orbits are elliptical, including nearly circular cases.
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