Orbital Elements 3D

Set the six classical elements and see how each one places the orbit in the Earth-centred inertial frame.

Example orbits

Elements

Layers

Frame and model

Positions are in an Earth-centred inertial frame with +Z through the North Pole and +X toward the vernal equinox (♈). Read it as true-of-date: precession and nutation are not modelled.

Motion is two-body Keplerian with μ = 398,600.4418 km³/s². There is no J2, drag or third-body perturbation, so Ω and ω stay fixed. In reality J2 drifts Ω for sun-synchronous orbits and holds ω still for Molniya at 63.4°.

Earth's orientation follows Greenwich mean sidereal time (IAU 1982) at the simulation time, so the ground track and sub-satellite point are correct for the epoch shown. Altitudes use an equatorial radius of 6,378.137 km. Latitude is geocentric.

Speed

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