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Isn't that a normal orbit around a common centre of mass? As the objects have a similar size the centre of mass appears to wobble as it moves along. In the fram
by xioxox 12y ago
Isn't that a normal orbit around a common centre of mass? As the objects have a similar size the centre of mass appears to wobble as it moves along. In the frame of the centre of mass, the objects would just go round in standard orbits.
- raverbashing 12y agoYeah That's the thing with those kind of simulators (or, actually, with reality), your reference has no relation to the center of mass of the system. Of course, if you "were there" the reference would be the center of mass, like the reference of the solar system is "The Sun" (or a point inside it)
- jessriedel 12y agoThe center of mass of the solar system isn't always within the Sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barycentric_coordinates_(astronomy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barycentric_coordinates_(astro...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- lutusp 12y ago> Isn't that a normal orbit around a common centre of mass? If you limit yourself to looking at the position of one body with respect to another, the orbit will be an ellipse. A circular orbit is simply a special-case ellipse with an eccentricity of zero. This is true for any two orbiting masses -- from the perspective of either of them, the other body's orbit will be an ellipse. And yes, it's always with respect to the common center of mass. Interestingly, mostly because of Jupiter, the solar system's common center of mass can sometimes lie outside the sun.