EFFECT OF TRUE ANOMALY ON THE ORBITAL POSITION AND FORMATION OF

ORBITS OF ALL 4 CONIC SECTIONS

MATLAB CODE:
clc
clear all

% Ellipse
a=26600; % semi major axis for molniya orbit
e=0.74; % eccentricity for elliptical molniya orbit
p=a.*(1-e^2); % semi latus rectum
v=[0:pi/30:2*pi]; % True Anomaly
r=p./(1+e.*cos(v));
figure
plot (v, r)
xlabel('True Anomaly (v)');
ylabel('Orbital Position (r)');
title('Variation of Orbital Position with True Anomaly');
figure
% Orbital Shape
x=r.*cos(v);
y=r.*sin(v);
plot (x,y)
title('Orbit Shape')

ELLIPSE:
 Matlab code is written for the case of elliptical orbit.
 Molniya orbit is taken as a reference, whose semi major axis is 26600km.
 The eccentricity value for this elliptical orbit is 0.74, as we also knew that
eccentricity for ellipse is 0<e<1.
 The orbital shape i.e. ellipse is shown below:
 104 Orbit Shape
2

1.5

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1
104

 The variation of orbital position with True Anomaly is shown as:

104 Variation of Orbital Position with True Anomaly
5

4.5

3.5
Orbital Position (r)

2.5

1.5

0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
True Anomaly (v)
 The plot shows that as we move from v=0 i.e. the perigee point, the distance of
orbit from central body which is at one focus is minimum.
 As we increase the angle from 0, the distance or orbital position value starts
increasing and then again starts decreasing while we increase the angle from
180 to 360o.

CIRCLE:
  By taking the value of eccentricity e=0, we got circular orbit.
 The circular orbit is shown below:
104 Orbit Shape
3

-1

-2

-3
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
104
 The variation of orbital position with true anomaly in case of circle is shown as:
104 Variation of Orbital Position with True Anomaly
2.6601

2.66008

2.66006

2.66004
Orbital Position (r)

2.66002

2.66

2.65998

2.65996

2.65994

2.65992

2.6599
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
True Anomaly (v)
 As we know that the radius or position of circular orbit from its center is constant,
and the above plot is showing the same variation that orbital position is not
changing by changing the true anomaly.

PARABOLA:

 As for the case of Parabola, the value of eccentricity should be equal to 1, so by

taking the value of eccentricity e=1, we got Parabolic orbit.
  We also take the value of p=a.
 The pararbolic orbit is shown below:
105 Orbit Shape
6

-2

-4

-6
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1
6
10
 The variation of orbital position with true anomaly in case of Hyperbola is shown
as:
106 Variation of Orbital Position with True Anomaly
5

4.5

3.5
Orbital Position (r)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
True Anomaly (v)
 The orbital position first increases as we increase the angle, then the orbital
position starts decreasing as the true anomaly increases.

HYPERBOLA:
 A for the case of Hyperbola, the value of eccentricity should be greater than 1,
so by taking the value of eccentricity e=1.19, we got Hyperbolic orbit.
 The hyperbolic orbit is shown below:
105 Orbit Shape
2

1.5

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
105
 The variation of orbital position with true anomaly in case of Hyperbola is shown
as:
105 Variation of Orbital Position with True Anomaly
4

2
Orbital Position (r)

-1

-2

-3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
True Anomaly (v)
 The orbital position remains constant at the start and end of the true anomaly
variation and a U shaped variation at the center.