Mean motion is the average orbital angular frequency. A Kepler orbit about gravitational parameter has .
The orbital period is the time required to complete one orbit. It is related to mean motion by .
For a circular orbit, the angular rate about the central body equals divided by its orbital period. Matching it to planetary spin is necessary for a planet-stationary orbit, which additionally requires a prograde equatorial circular geometry.
For a spherical body of radius , mass and mean density , a low circular orbit has period , by equating the gravitational acceleration from Newton's law of universal gravitation to the centripetal acceleration. Substitution proves the displayed relation. Thus similar low-orbit periods indicate similar mean densities, even for bodies with very different masses and radii. At altitude , the right side is multiplied by ; the simple density inference requires and neglects rotation, nonsphericity and other gravitating bodies.
The synodic period is the interval between successive repetitions of the relative orbital configuration of two bodies. For coplanar prograde mean motions , it is .

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Mean motion, in the context of celestial mechanics, refers to the average angular speed at which an orbiting body travels around a primary body, typically expressed in degrees or radians per unit time. It provides a way to quantify how fast an object moves in its orbit, ignoring the gravitational influences that cause variations in speed due to the elliptical nature of most orbits.