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I have been working on modeling the orbit of a satellite using Kepler's second law of planetary motion, and I have gotten to a point that is really quite bothersome to me. Essentially, my problem boils down to solving this equation for θ (angular position of the planet from the focus of the orbit in radians) in terms of t (time elapsed since perigee in seconds):
(b²sin θ)/(a²cos θ - ca) = tan (2πt/P)
Everything else is a constant; P is the orbital period in seconds, a is the semi-major axis, b is the semi-minor axis, c is the focal distance of the orbit, and π is, well, pi. I can produce my work leading up to this point, although I'm fairly certain it is correct and not terribly relevant to the problem at hand. Is anyone able to solve this?
(b²sin θ)/(a²cos θ - ca) = tan (2πt/P)
Everything else is a constant; P is the orbital period in seconds, a is the semi-major axis, b is the semi-minor axis, c is the focal distance of the orbit, and π is, well, pi. I can produce my work leading up to this point, although I'm fairly certain it is correct and not terribly relevant to the problem at hand. Is anyone able to solve this?