On the nodal distance between two Keplerian trajectories with a common focus

DOI10.1007/S10569-019-9944-YzbMATH Open1443.70052arXiv1909.03213OpenAlexW2972220342MaRDI QIDQ2004669FDOQ2004669

Giovanni F. Gronchi, Laurent Niederman

Publication date: 7 October 2020

Published in: Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We study the possible values of the nodal distance $delt{a}_{mnod}$ between two non-coplanar Keplerian trajectories $calA,c^{\prime }alA$ with a common focus. In particular, given $calA\text{'}$ and assuming it is bounded, we compute optimal lower and upper bounds for $delt{a}_{mnod}$ as functions of a selected pair of orbital elements of $calA$, when the other elements vary. This work arises in the attempt to extend to the elliptic case the optimal estimates for the orbit distance given in (Gronchi and Valsecchi 2013) in case of a circular trajectory $calA\text{'}$. These estimates are relevant to understand the observability of celestial bodies moving (approximately) along $calA$ when the observer trajectory is (close to) $calA\text{'}$.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.03213

zbMATH Keywords

MOIDnodal distancenear-Earth asteroidsgeometry of Keplerian orbits

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Celestial mechanics (70F15) Orbital mechanics (70M20)

Cites Work

• On the distance function between two Keplerian elliptic orbits
• On the Stationary Points of the Squared Distance between Two Ellipses with a Common Focus
• On linking coefficient of two Keplerian orbits
• An analytic method to determine future close approaches between satellites
• A lower bound of the distance between two elliptic orbits
• Planetary encounter analysis on the B-plane: a comprehensive formulation

Cited In (1)

• Revisiting the computation of the critical points of the Keplerian distance

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