Visualizing Geocentric Orbital Coordinates

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Published on ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_l-uFerhAU



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A 3D view of a Keplerian geocentric orbital coordinate system that might be used for launching and tracking a satellite orbiting Earth. Animated in Blender. If you have any points of clarification please leave a comment! There are a few caveats here for artistic purposes:

Periapse (Perigee when referring to Earth), the point closest to the parent body, is not defined for a perfectly circular orbit. You need eccentricity (i.e., an elliptical orbit) for references to periapse to make sense. Hopefully a circle gets the point across just as well - it's much easier to animate!

Another artistic change: In the real world, the Earth rotates under the satellite, so the satellite's ground track (position over the Earth) would not line up exactly after each orbit. I did not include the Earth's rotation here in order to make the video loop.

And finally, the moon is probably not the right size here, since I didn't calculate the correct apparent diameter for this scene.

Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_elements
Music: Harris Heller - Further







Tags:
orbit
orbital mechanics
coordinate
perigee
periapse
right ascension of ascending node
satellite
blender
animation
longitude of ascending node
orbital elements
inclination
argument of periapsis
true anomaly
geocentric
vernal equinox
argument of periapse