Orbital behavior around a nonuniform celestial body

[摘要] To effectively model the orbit around a nonuniform celestial body, detailed information needs to be determined of the perturbations. This research looked at one of the most crucial perturbations: the nonuniform gravitational field of a celestial body. Given an orbiting particle (a satellite), we utilized numerical methods to calculate its orbit in two dimensions around a discretized center mass structure. The gravitational acceleration imposed on the particle due to each mass point sums vectorally as the particle completes each infinitesimal time step of one orbit. There are noticeable effects on the orbit as the conditions of the center mass change. The development of a simulation code allows for the modelling of the orbit about an irregular body with satisfactory accuracy.

[发布机构] Department of Physics, Stetson University, DeLand; FL; 32723, United States^1

[效力级别] 计算机科学 [学科分类] 计算机科学（综合）

[关键词] Celestial bodies;Center mass;Gravitational accelerations;Gravitational fields;Simulation code;Time step;Two-dimension