The kick changes the tangential velocity by . With and , the new specific angular momentum is
Every Kepler orbit satisfies . Combining this identity with the value of found in part (d) gives
where is the explicit function of in part (d).
In steady state, mass conservation makes the outward flux constant, . Angular-momentum conservation then gives
The zero-torque condition at fixes the constant to , so
For a Kepler orbit, and . The viscous torque is consequently . Equating the two expressions yields the steady decretion disk structure
The first term, , is radial kinetic energy. The second, , is tangential kinetic energy, since conservation of angular momentum gives . The final term, , is the gravitational potential energy, with zero at infinite separation. Thus
The second and third terms together form the radial effective potential for a Kepler orbit. At an apsis the radial velocity vanishes, so ; for a bound noncircular orbit the two accessible roots give the nearest and furthest radii.
Adding tangential velocity along the existing motion increases both orbital energy and angular momentum:
For a sufficiently small kick the Kepler orbit remains an ellipse. At the kick point its radial velocity vanishes and its tangential speed exceeds the circular orbital speed, so that point becomes the pericentre. The ellipse extends farther outward than the original circle.
Choose the orientation . To leading order in the radial disturbance, the azimuthal angular frequency is , so
For either orientation the positive frequency ratio is . At , the ratio is : there is one radial oscillation per revolution. The bound Kepler orbit is an ellipse with the force centre at a focus, with one closest and one furthest approach per revolution. Its exact polar coordinates equation is
At , the ratio is : there are two radial oscillations per revolution. The isotropic harmonic oscillator trajectory is an ellipse centred on the force centre. An exact parametrization is
Here repeats twice during one full circuit. The two different placements of the force centre distinguish these ellipses. These are the two all-bound-orbit cases of Bertrand's theorem.
Figure 1.
Nearly circular ellipses: one radial cycle about a focus for the inverse-distance potential, and two about the centre for the quadratic potential
. Details.
Use a circular Kepler orbit to eliminate the terrestrial gravitational parameter: is constant for both satellites. The reference orbital radius is , measured from Earth's centre. A geostationary orbit is circular, equatorial and prograde, with the sidereal rotation period, approximately . Thus
Its altitude is about above the stated surface. The approximate low-orbit input sets the accuracy; replacing it by a modern measured gravitational parameter would answer a different numerical estimate. A -hour approximation changes the radius by less than . Matching the period alone would not make an inclined or eccentric orbit stationary above one point.
Classification of attractive inverse-square orbits. Write the potential energy as , with and zero at infinity. For nonzero angular momentum , the Kepler orbit is a conic,
Negative total orbital energy gives an elliptic orbit, . Its special case is the circular Kepler orbit, at the minimum energy permitted for that , . Zero energy gives a parabolic Kepler orbit, , and positive energy a hyperbolic Kepler orbit, . For , the motion is radial: these are degenerate limiting trajectories and may strike the centre or the finite planetary surface.
The scattering geometry. The impact parameter is the perpendicular offset of the undeflected incoming asymptote from the centre, not the actual periapsis radius . Gravity bends the incoming path toward the planet.
Figure 1.
Original calculated grazing hyperbola with its incoming asymptote, impact parameter and periapsis; the planet and trajectory use a dimensionless illustrative choice
. Details.
The grazing threshold. At infinity, conservation of energy and angular momentum give and . At closest approach the radial speed is zero, so the velocity is tangential and
Eliminating gives
This increases monotonically with . Setting gives the grazing impact parameter in gravitational focusing,
Here is the surface escape speed. The expression has units of length. Equality is the tangency limit; a strictly noncolliding trajectory requires . At high speed, , while at low speed . Thus gravitational focusing enlarges the collision cross-section to .
Deflection angle. For this hyperbola,
The asymptotes occur at . The change of velocity direction is , giving . Hence the gravitational scattering angle satisfies
For the grazing trajectory this is
It is the attractive counterpart of the Rutherford impact-parameter relation; the sign of the transverse bending changes, but the positive deflection magnitude has this same form.
Range of angles. Along the grazing family, varying gives
The limits are as and as . Neither endpoint is reached at finite positive speed. The low-speed limiting orbit still has a finite periapsis, but an increasingly distant incoming asymptote.
Powered vertical flight. Take upward velocity as positive, and let be the downward exhaust speed relative to the rocket. During the rocket's mass changes by , and exhaust mass leaves with Earth-frame velocity . Compare the momentum of the rocket plus this newly expelled exhaust before and after the interval:
Discard the second-order product . The result is , or
The positive rocket thrust is . Integrating with and gives the rocket equation with gravitational loss:
Using for the rocket alone without the exhaust momentum flux would give the wrong equation for this open system.
Orbital speed under the stated gravity assumption. A circular orbit of radius requires centripetal acceleration . If the magnitude of gravitational acceleration is the stipulated constant even at the orbit,
This treats gravity as centrally directed for the orbital calculation, while retaining its constant magnitude. The subsequent flat-surface approximation treats its direction as locally vertical.
Burnout height. During the unpowered projectile motion, horizontal velocity is constant. At the top of the trajectory the vertical component vanishes, so the horizontal component must equal the orbital speed . At burnout, therefore,
These follow either by integrating or by the vertical work-energy theorem. Substituting the preceding constant- orbital result gives
The vertical component is initially positive, as required to reach the orbit after burnout.
Alternative inverse-square interpretation. A real Earth's exterior Newtonian gravitational field is not constant over a altitude change. If instead means the surface value , then Newton's law of universal gravitation gives and
Using this orbital speed but the paper's constant- flat projectile motion approximation for the coast would give
This alternative changes the global constant-gravity assumption; it is not the same model as the result. An exact curved Kepler orbit coast would also abandon the prescribed flat trajectory. The printed assumptions support the constant-magnitude answers above, while the inverse-square values explain the different answer obtained from the usual physical Earth-orbit formula.
For a light test particle of mass outside a spherical source of mass , Newton's law of universal gravitation gives . It is a central force, so its torque about the source vanishes and angular momentum is conserved. The motion therefore lies in a fixed plane when . Its gravitational potential energy is , and conservation of mechanical energy gives
Here is specific orbital energy and is specific angular momentum. A Kepler orbit has polar equation
The angle is measured from periapsis. The conic section is an ellipse for and , a parabola for and , and a hyperbola for and . The circle is the elliptical case. The special case is radial motion and must be handled as a degenerate limit. Bound ellipses have the source at one focus, which is Kepler's first law.
For a bound orbit of semi-major axis , . Combining this with the energy equation gives the vis-viva equation:
The particle therefore moves faster near periapsis and slower near apoapsis. Conservation of angular momentum also gives constant areal velocity, , expressing Kepler's second law. Using the ellipse's area and gives the orbital period
which is Kepler's third law.
A circular orbit follows from centripetal acceleration , giving and . The minimum escape velocity from radius follows from the marginally unbound condition :
These ideal orbits neglect drag force, other gravitating bodies and changes in the central source. For two comparable masses, the relative two-body problem uses instead of . An orbiting object is continuously in free fall; the inward gravitational force changes its direction even when its speed is constant. These inverse-square results assume the physical variation of gravity with radius, rather than extending a near-surface constant- approximation to an entire orbit.
For two bodies of masses , the relative Kepler orbit has semimajor axis and orbital period satisfying Kepler's third law
Here is the semimajor axis of the separation vector, not either star's individual barycentric orbit. In conventional stellar units the same relation is approximately , with year, astronomical unit and solar mass as the units.
The patched conic approximation models different portions of a spacecraft trajectory by separate two-body Kepler orbits, matching position and velocity where one attracting body gives way to another. For a surface departure from a nonrotating planet, conservation of energy gives , where is surface launch speed, is the planet's surface escape speed, and is the planet-relative hyperbolic excess speed. Adding that excess velocity vector to the planet's orbital velocity supplies the heliocentric initial condition. It neglects the simultaneous full gravitational action of both bodies near the matching region.
Periapsis angular speed Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-07
The specific angular momentum of an elliptic Kepler orbit is . At periapsis, , so
The mean motion understates instantaneous angular speed near periapsis. A particle in an exterior mean-motion resonance can briefly overtake the planet in angle despite completing full orbits more slowly.
For a Kepler orbit with pericentre distance , apocentre distance , and semi-major axis , a uniform mean anomaly gives
The two radial passages per orbital period are included, and .
Planetary quadrupole coefficient Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-18
The dimensionless coefficient describes the leading axisymmetric departure of a planet's external Newtonian gravitational potential from a monopole: , where is colatitude from the spin axis. An oblate mass distribution has positive . The disturbing function is minus the nonspherical potential term. On a circular inclined Kepler orbit, , so orbit averaging gives . The exact circular nodal rate is ; its small-tilt limit is .
For a bound Kepler orbit, specific orbital energy is negative. Therefore . A projected separation and a systemic-motion-corrected line-of-sight speed give the displayed lower bound. One position and one spectral velocity already constrain the mass in this model; a fitted orbit gives much more. The bound assumes a bound orbit in a point-mass potential; it is not an unrestricted enclosed-mass formula for an arbitrary extended potential.
The semimajor axis of the pulsar's orbit about the binary barycenter, projected along the line of sight and divided by the speed of light. The orbital inclination is zero for a face-on orbit. Thus is a time, often quoted as the numerical number of light-seconds in , not the true binary separation. The relative-orbit semimajor axis is instead ; conservation of momentum gives .
Combining Kepler's third law with that barycenter relation gives the timing form of the binary mass function, also valid for eccentric Kepler orbits:
Choose and for an original example: and , where is a solar mass. For a specified pulsar mass , the smallest allowed companion mass occurs at and is approximately . A different assumed changes this bound. One measured does not determine both masses and orbital inclination.
Radial impulse 2026-10-25
An impulse directed along the position vector relative to a specified origin. Its angular impulse vanishes because . It can nevertheless change kinetic energy; if an initially circular Kepler orbit receives radial velocity , the added specific orbital energy is .
On a nonradial zero-energy Kepler orbit, conserved specific angular momentum gives periapsis and . Integrating with yields . Squaring gives the displayed version of the Barker equation, valid on both incoming and outgoing branches. The time origin is passage through periapsis, not an arbitrary point on the orbit.
Semilatus rectum Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-25
The distance from a focus to a conic section along a line perpendicular to its symmetry axis. In focus-centred polar coordinates, an ellipse may be written , where is its eccentricity of a conic.
The distance from a focus of a conic section to the curve measured perpendicular to its principal axis. In the focus-based polar coordinates equation it is the length , where is the eccentricity. For an ellipse, . For a Newtonian Kepler orbit, with the specific angular momentum.
Spacecraft trajectory 2026-10-14
A spacecraft trajectory is the path traced by a spacecraft's position over time. An unpowered exterior arc can approximate a Kepler orbit; other bodies' gravity, radiation pressure, and propulsion can change it.