Auxiliary Circle

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Auxiliary Circle

In celestial mechanics, a circumscribing circle to an orbital ellipse with a radius a, the semimajor axis. The auxiliary circle is related to the ellipse by

<math>QN = Q'N(1 - e²)^1/2</math>

where e is the eccentricity; Q is any point on the ellipse; N is the foot of the perpendicular through Q to the line of apsides; and Q' is the intersection of the perpendicular and the auxiliary circle.

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use