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Hmm, I think the projection of an ellipse in perspective is still an ellipse. Do we know if these 8 data points were enough to determine whether the planets are
by jobigoud 10y ago
Hmm, I think the projection of an ellipse in perspective is still an ellipse. Do we know if these 8 data points were enough to determine whether the planets are all orbiting roughly on the same plane, as in the Solar system?
- zeroer 10y agoSort of. Add knowledge of Kepler's second law that an orbit will sweep out equal area in equal time, and you'll find that you can tell how much the orbit has been rotated, but not in which direction. I think generically, you'll find four possible orientations for a given projection. If you have multiple planets, and all planets share a particular possible elliptical plane, you might guess they're all on that plane, but it could be a coincidence.