Orbital motion
type: Concept
narrower: Osculating orbit

Osculating orbit
type: Concept
contributor: AAS Frey.Katie
modified: 2020-11-17T19:14:23.356Z
modified: 2020-11-17T19:14:13.783Z
broader: Orbital motion
definition: The Keplerian orbit that a satellite would follow after a specific time t if all forces other than central inverse-square forces ceased to act from time t on. An osculating orbit is tangent to the real, perturbed, orbit and has the same velocity at the point of tangency.