How Are Mean Orbital Elements Calculated?

[cptolemy]

Good morning,

I was making some investigation regarding the calculation of mean orbital elements - not osculating.

Is this done simply by fitting (with the best equation) several osculating elements across time, or is there a mathematical approach already settled?

Cheers,

 

[jim mcnamara]

Here is a step by step discussion of calculating mean orbital elements http://www.abecedarical.com/zenosamples/zs_planetorbits.html

IF you want to read a lot more about desktop astronomical calculations, there are a series of books on the subject by Jan Meeus. Many are available used, i.e., not expensive.