Orbital Dynamics

Orbital dynamics is the study of the motion of objects in the presence of gravitational forces of other bodies, due to gravity. All bodies provide a gravitational pull on other bodies surrounding it.

The motion of one body about another body due to gravity, is known as an Orbit. Orbits are described by a body of theory called "Orbital Dynamics". Kepler discovered that in Newtonian Physics, which ignore Einstein's theories of relativity, orbits are elliptical in shape, at least for the simple case of one body orbiting another body without any influence from any third body. Kepler's Laws are three equations which describe elliptical orbits, and still hold true today.

Newton's Law of Gravity

The force exerted by two bodies on each other is given by

<math>F = \frac{Gm_{1}m_{2}}{r^{2}}</math>

where G is the Universal Gravitational Constant whose value is 6.67300 × 10^-11 m³ kg^-1 s^-2, <math>m_1</math> is the mass of the first body, <math>m_2</math> is the mass of the second body, and r is the distance between them.

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