Orbital elements

The elements of an orbit are the parameters needed to specify that orbit uniquely, given a model of two ideal masses obeying the Newtonian laws of motion and the inverse-square law of gravitational attraction. Because there are multiple ways of defining a motion, depending on which set of variable you choose to measure, there are several different ways of defining sets of orbital elements, each of which will define the same orbit.

Related Topics:
Orbit - Newtonian laws of motion - Inverse-square law - Gravitational attraction

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There are seven degrees of freedom in this model (time, position in 3-space at that time, velocity in 3-space at that time) so all sets of orbital elements have seven parameters. (See also: orbital state vectors).

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