Hey space fans (and Python coders),
after covering reference frames (Ecliptic, Equatorial and the Horizon) with Python it is time to set the knowledge fundament of another important and fascinating topic: Orbits.
Thanks to the so called Keplerian Elements we are able to describe the path of objects that revolve the Sun like planets, asteroids, comets as well as moons that revolve their major centre part.
Astro-dynamics in general is very vast and complex. Also, data scientific insights can be computed and derived to e.g., classify comets by the dynamical properties. But before we dive into some heavy coding sessions covering these amazing topics, I would like to provide some basic understanding of the orbital elements. And again: I don't want to bore anyone with math-heavy videos. Of course, mathematical understanding is really important; but for starters I would like to cover the basics with an interactive visualisation toolkit provided by NASA.
Oh and by the way: in one of the future coding tutorials we will create our own orbit plotting tool using Python with: Flask, SPICE, NumPy and Plotly (and Docker to deploy the application).
I hope you enjoy it. Next week a first coding part will follow with a gently introduction into the orbital elements of the dwarf planet (1) Ceres.
Stay tuned,
Thomas
TL;DR I deployed (with GitHub Pages) an online orbit propagator where you can input keplerian orbital elements or initial state vector (position and velocity) and it plots out the orbit in 3D, its groundtracks (at Earth, Moon, or Mars), and position and velocity magnitude vs time plots.
Here is the link: https://alfonsogonzalez.github.io/AWP/
Video explaining how to use it: https://youtu.be/KVbjQMEvI6E
The intention is that it can be a nice, easy to use, zero dependency tool to visualize the relationship between keplerian orbital elements, state vectors, groundtracks, and inverse relationship between position and velocity magnitudes, which can be used as a useful quick tool (for those with experience in orbital mechanics) or as part of the learning process (for those learning orbital mechanics).
For those who are curious here is the source code, which is in HTML/CSS/JavaScript: https://github.com/alfonsogonzalez/AWP/tree/main/docs
I am a Python and C++ guy, so there is likely some ugly JavaScript practices in there but it does work for its intended purpose (but I will be improving it / cleaning it up over time). Please let me know if you have any feedback / feature requests!
https://preview.redd.it/t5pcftiocl881.png?width=1288&format=png&auto=webp&s=cde9863eae2be82edfa1a0bf96d62f767c680919
Anybody know of an equation or something that can help with computing a satellites position with elements: longitude of ascending node (deg), inclination (deg), semimajor axis (km), eccentricity, argument of periapsis (deg), and true anomaly (deg)? I believe this are considered as the Keplerian parameters.
Any help to figure out how to calculate a satellites position with these parameters would be appreciated, thank you.
can u also just elaborate me the concept of s block and p block elements
I'm a computer science student and a complete beginner to astronomy with a fair bit to interest in astronomy. As I'm trying to visualize the orbits of the asteroid by the orbital elements data that I've obtained from the NASA small body database for college project I'm forced to learn to orbital mechanic, thus I'm learning orbital elements but a lot of orbital elements explanation video/articles uses earth as the object being the orbited. I'm wondering if orbital elements data from NASA small body database is base on the sun or the earth because asteroid is orbiting our sun isn't it?.....
This is the data i'm talking about.
Apologies If I said /composed something wrong/weird in my post, because English isn't my primary language
Orbital elements data of 2013 VM13 taken from JPL small body database
Every two layers down the periodic table, a new orbital is formed. If new synthetic elements were created, would we eventually discover a new orbital, and why? If we would, is it possible to predict anything about it, such as its capacity?
I am under the assumption that certain value like the semi major axis and specific orbital energy should be constant when the rocket is only under the pull of gravity. but my vizzy calculated value for semi major axis is drifting by around 1,000m in an orbit with eccentricity of 0.55
https://i.imgur.com/GYymtU2.jpg
I think its a big enough precision error that is preventing me from calculating time from point A to point B accurately in my sub orbital planning. Sub orbital hops are very eccentric.
For a uni project i want to make a small course about the utility of understanding MO's for spectroscopy and reaction mechanisms, and i want to be able to back-of-the-envelope construct my own MO's, but i'm finding it very hard to get a comprehensive list of all relevant energy levels. I recently found this one, but that one only features the neutral species. Is there a simple formula that i can apply to the base energies to get the energy levels of the ions?
Thanks in advance!
Hi guys, A Level chemist here, doing a bit of reading around the subject and have started to read into orbitals and bonding. Since s orbitals can never form pi bonds, can elements with outer electrons in the s orbital form pi bonds, i.e. can the lower energy level’s p orbital cause a pi bond or is there something stopping that? Thanks :)
Dear god I am so confused
I'm not currently a student, but I am reading an inorganic chemistry textbook out of curiosity. The textbook, Inorganic Chemistry by Wulfsberg, states "...a given element has two types of valence electrons: those filled in the last ns orbital and those in the last-filled orbital characteristic of the block..." However, in calculating the effective nuclear charge (Z*) for each orbital in each element using Slater's Rules (and Excel), I have found the last-filled f-orbital electrons to have a much higher Z* value than the n-1 s and p electrons.
Take thulium, for example. Slater's rules calculate Z* to be the following:
https://preview.redd.it/u0ix64em1dz41.png?width=506&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee87b04274f45c3ecd2cdde53db47d56108010b5
It would stand to reason that with the shielding effect of the 13 f-orbital electrons, the 5s and 5p electrons would be the next most manipulable electrons after the virtually unbound 6s electrons.
Is this a function of oversimplification wrought by extending Slater's rules into the f-block? Is there another explanation?
Thanks.
I've been thinking recently of a Y. A. Sci-fi series I read when I was younger. I forget the plot but know it revolved around several clones of the same kid and took place across a futuristic NYC build over the ruins of an Old NYC, a giant orbital space station over Earth and a colony on Mars. One of the early plot points involves the Earth clones g/f losing her chip implanted in her arm that essentially gave her citizenship or status and her and her family having to live in the ruins of old NYC. One of the characters names might be Tristan?
That's all I can remember and as of yet I have not had luck on Google.
TIA.
I'm curious to see what other people use to complete the 50k+ elements veins and how to go about doing them.
Can u also elaborate the concept of s block p block elements
