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How do you correct for the shape of the Sun when calculating solar orbits?
The shape of the sun deviates from a sphere because it spins.
Is there a way to do it as two masses located at the foci of the ellipse
Morning: please add your link. I'm trying to test a means of adjusting orbits for relativistic affects, but to test i need to correct for shape of sun and other planets.
2 Answers
- MorningfoxLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
The correction is *very* small, about 3 parts in 10^11 for Mercury and much less for the other planets.
Modern orbit calculations don't use elliptical orbits for the highest accuracies. If you want the equations, see the link, especially at Sections 8.3.3 and 8.3.11.
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Sorry, I must have messed up adding the link. Here it is, Chapter 8 from the new 3rd edition of "Explanatory Supplement" (to be published later this year, I hope.)
Source(s): http://iau-comm4.jpl.nasa.gov/XSChap8.pdf http://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/docs/exp_supp... - ?Lv 79 years ago
I think most calculations are made using points of mass. Because the distances from the Sun to the bodies which orbit it are immense compared to the size of the Sun, this is a valid assumption.