Unified symbolic algorithm of Gauss method for near-parabolic orbits (Q1288682)

The authors present a unified algorithm of Gauss method for solving Kepler's equation for near-parabolic orbits, that is valid in both elliptic and hyperbolic cases. The problem arises in these cases due to the indeterminancy of Kepler's equation as the eccentricity tends to unity. The formulation is developed numerically and symbolically using the Mathematica package. An application to two near-parabolic orbits (elliptic and hyperbolic) demonstrates the efficiency of the algorithm.