Questions tagged [orbital-motion]
The path a body takes while moving through space under the influence of the gravitational forces of other bodies
2,525
questions
96
votes
4
answers
13k
views
If Earth had rings?
If Earth had rings, would they center on the equator like Saturn's rings do on its equator?
- 1
89
votes
9
answers
220k
views
Why doesn't the Moon fall onto the Earth?
Why doesn't the Moon fall onto the Earth? For that matter, why doesn't anything rotating a larger body ever fall onto the larger body?
- 1,033
84
votes
4
answers
15k
views
Where does the extra kinetic energy come from in a gravitational slingshot?
I read in this answer in this site that the KE a free-falling ball acquires is not originated by the attracting body but that energy was actually stored in the ball when it had been lifted to the ...
- 851
78
votes
2
answers
10k
views
Can an atom orbit the Sun?
Is it possible for a molecule or atom to orbit a star (e.g. the Sun)? Or is there always too much outward force imparted by solar radiation compared to the inward force of gravitational attraction?
- 657
72
votes
5
answers
12k
views
Is there a small enough planet or asteroid you can orbit by jumping?
I just had this idea of orbiting a planet just by jumping and then flying upon it on its orbit kind of like superman. So,
Would it be theoretically possible or is there a chance of that small body to ...
- 963
64
votes
15
answers
21k
views
Why do we say that the Earth moves around the Sun?
In history we are taught that the Catholic Church was wrong, because the Sun does not move around the Earth, instead the Earth moves around the Sun.
But then in physics we learn that movement is ...
- 1,387
61
votes
4
answers
9k
views
How far ahead can we predict solar and lunar eclipses?
The solar system is non-integrable and has chaos.
The sun-earth-moon three-body system might be chaotic.
So, how far into the future can we predict solar eclipses and/or lunar eclipses?
How about ...
- 4,122
57
votes
4
answers
13k
views
What does the Moon's orbit around the Sun look like?
I'm curious as to what the Moon's orbit around the Sun looks like. If there's an answer, what's the intuition for it? Here are some things I'm assuming when trying to tackle this question:
The Moon's ...
- 751
57
votes
6
answers
19k
views
What symmetry causes the Runge-Lenz vector to be conserved?
Noether's theorem relates symmetries to conserved quantities. For a central potential $V \propto \frac{1}{r}$, the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector is conserved. What is the symmetry associated with the ...
- 5,725
53
votes
8
answers
8k
views
A planet with a square orbit?
To understand how gravity influence objects, time and space, I have been thinking of how a planets shape would change the orbits of its moons.
More specifically: can I design a planet whose moon move ...
- 1,153
53
votes
5
answers
99k
views
What did general relativity clarify about Mercury?
I frequently hear that Kepler, using his equations of orbital motion, could predict the orbits of all the planets to a high degree of accuracy -- except Mercury. I've heard that mercury's motion ...
- 5,061
50
votes
5
answers
31k
views
Is it possible to have a geostationary satellite over the poles?
My understanding of orbital mechanics is very limited, but as I understand geostationary satellite, they stay in place by having an orbital speed corresponding to the spot they're orbiting over.
So ...
- 627
49
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Why are our planets in the solar system all on the same disc/plane/layer? [duplicate]
I always see pictures of the solar system where our sun is in the middle and the planets surround the sun. All these planets move on orbits on the same layer. Why?
- 965
43
votes
5
answers
6k
views
If the gravitational force were inversely proportional to distance (rather than distance squared), will celestial bodies fall into each other?
If gravity was inversely proportional to distance, will the dynamics of celestial bodies be much different from our world? Will celestial bodies fall into each other?
- 589
41
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Why is the period of a geostationary satellite not exactly 1440 minutes?
When reading about Astra satellites on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_1KR), I saw that the period of the Astra 1KR satellite, positioned at 19.2° E, is 1,436.1 minutes (source: NORAD ...
- 471