Katana VentraIP

Mean anomaly

In celestial mechanics, the mean anomaly is the fraction of an elliptical orbit's period that has elapsed since the orbiting body passed periapsis, expressed as an angle which can be used in calculating the position of that body in the classical two-body problem. It is the angular distance from the pericenter which a fictitious body would have if it moved in a circular orbit, with constant speed, in the same orbital period as the actual body in its elliptical orbit.[1][2]

Kepler's laws of planetary motion

Mean longitude

Mean motion

Orbital elements

Archived 2017-12-23 at the Wayback Machine at the US Naval Observatory's Astronomical Almanac Online Archived 2015-04-20 at the Wayback Machine

Glossary entry anomaly, mean