It's also important to obtain a dataset that spans enough of the orbit, 5 percent or more is most desirable if you can manage to get it. On the other hand, individual observations being too far apart can also be a problem when using the method of Gauss because it approximates the areas of sectors of the orbit as triangles, so keep this in mind if you're determining the orbit of a planetary satellite.
Finally, for asteroids, be aware that observations made at solar elongations less than about 120 degrees could lead to a mathematically correct but otherwise unphysical alias solution.
12.410J home | Last modified 1999 Sep 26 |