Elliptic Orbit - Orbital Period

Orbital Period

Under standard assumptions the orbital period of a body traveling along an elliptic orbit can be computed as:

where:

  • is standard gravitational parameter,
  • is length of semi-major axis.

Conclusions:

  • The orbital period is equal to that for a circular orbit with the orbit radius equal to the semi-major axis ,
  • For a given semi-major axis the orbital period does not depend on the eccentricity (See also: Kepler's third law).

Read more about this topic:  Elliptic Orbit

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