14: Mathematics for Orbits
- Page ID
- 29490
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- 14.2: The Ellipse
- The simplest nontrivial planetary orbit is a circle. An ellipse is a circle scaled (squashed) in one direction.
- 14.3: The Parabola
- The parabola can be defines as the limiting curve of an ellipse as one focus (in the case we’re examining, that would be F1) going to infinity. The eccentricity evidently goes to one, e→1 since the center of the ellipse has gone to infinity as well.