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Droctagonopus
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What exactly does it take to figure out the orbital parameters or planets and what's the Math behind it? Can it be done using only a telescope or is it necessary to send a probe?
Droctagonopus said:What exactly does it take to figure out the orbital parameters or planets and what's the Math behind it? Can it be done using only a telescope or is it necessary to send a probe?
Droctagonopus said:What exactly does it take to figure out the orbital parameters or planets and what's the Math behind it? Can it be done using only a telescope or is it necessary to send a probe?
russ_watters said:A good place to start would be the work of Kepler and Tycho Brahe.
phinds said:Planetary orbits were known to such precision PRIOR to the space age that even 100 years ago everyone knew that Mars precessed in a way that didn't fit the math of Newton's Laws and then Einstein figured it out with General Relativity which gives greater precision (and MUCH greater for faster-moving objects and very high gravitational fields).
SteamKing said:Most orbits can be determined by telescopic observations of the body in question. For satellites in Earth orbit, as few as three observations are required, which can be done with radar instead of a telescope.
SteamKing said:It was the precession of the perihelion of Mercury, not Mars, .
Droctagonopus said:Thank you all for your replies.
Can you explain or link a resource explaining what measurements are made and how they are made and what calculations are then performed to determine the orbital parameters? Thanks in advance.
Droctagonopus said:What exactly does it take to figure out the orbital parameters or planets and what's the Math behind it? Can it be done using only a telescope or is it necessary to send a probe?
Scientists have used a variety of methods to determine the orbits of planets, including observations with telescopes, mathematical calculations, and space missions. The most accurate way to measure a planet's orbit is by using Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which describe the relationship between a planet's distance from the sun and its orbital period.
Kepler's first law, also known as the law of ellipses, states that all planets orbit the sun in an elliptical shape, with the sun at one of the two foci of the ellipse. This means that a planet's distance from the sun varies throughout its orbit, with the closest point being the perihelion and the farthest point being the aphelion.
The distance between planets can be measured using a unit called the astronomical unit (AU), which is equal to the average distance between the Earth and the sun. This is approximately 93 million miles (149.6 million kilometers). Scientists use radar, parallax measurements, and other techniques to accurately measure the distance between planets.
The orbital period is the time it takes for a planet to complete one full orbit around the sun, while orbital speed is the velocity at which a planet travels along its orbit. The shorter the orbital period, the faster the orbital speed will be. For example, Mercury has the shortest orbital period at 88 Earth days and also has the fastest orbital speed at 47.9 kilometers per second.
Scientists use a method called the transit method to detect and measure the orbits of planets outside of our solar system. This involves observing the slight dip in a star's brightness as a planet passes in front of it. By measuring the frequency and duration of these dips, scientists can determine the size and orbital period of the planet, as well as its distance from the star.