Galactic-centre point-mass orbit model

ID: galactic-centre-point-mass-orbit-model

Consider a negligible-mass star moving in the stationary Newtonian gravitational potential of a point mass. Let its semi-major axis be , orbital eccentricity , and orbital period . Write for the gravitational parameter. The eccentric anomaly is determined by Kepler's equation,
where is the time of periapsis. Coordinates in the orbital plane, with the point mass at the origin, are
The focus is the central mass; the ellipse's geometric centre is displaced by along the first coordinate. The varying denominator makes the star move faster near periapsis, even though the mean anomaly increases uniformly.

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