Sunday, 22 May 2016

orbit - Inclination in Kepler's laws

So, basically you're trying to merge orbital inclination to Kepler's laws. The simplest way is to take the measured orbital inclination of the planet, which is constant, and apply the Pythagorean theorem to any given location and that gives you 3 dimensions of distance from the 2 dimensions defined in Kepler's laws. That's probably what Kepler did. (see picture from the Wikipedia link above)





A much too simple explanation of orbital inclination here.



And a much more complex one, factoring in orbital movement here.



Kepler's laws only work in 2 dimensions because one object orbiting another is a 2 dimensional calculation and bringing a 3rd dimension into his law complicates it unnecessarily. 3 dimensions is essential for accurate planetary tracking, but it's unnecessarily in a 2 body gravitational system that takes into account distance, eccentricity and velocity. Kepler was likely aware of this.



Kepler, in fact, discovered orbital inclination by looking at Copernicus' observations, and that was something he was very proud of and it was a very important discovery. Source here. Kepler deduced that orbital inclination explained away previously not understood and overly complicated orbital oscillations. He didn't just undo Copernicus' circles, he worked things out in 3 dimensions and he might never have figured out his laws without understanding and measuring orbital inclination.



Nice question.



(footnote, my answer is more history of science and mathematics, but I think your question, the way you asked it is more astronomy, so, I think the question should stay here, but the powers that be can decide otherwise if they like).

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