None conic Orbits

Ideas about how a world with more than three spatial dimensions would work - what laws of physics would be needed, how things would be built, how people would do things and so on.

None conic Orbits

Postby anderscolingustafson » Thu May 08, 2014 7:07 pm

In our Universe the orbits of planets are generally elliptical and ellipses are a type of conic shape as they can be formed by cutting out a cross section from a cone. Circles and ellipses are the only conical shapes that a planet could have as an actual orbit as parabolas and hyperbolas don't curve back in on themselves like circles and ellipses and so if a planet had a parabolic or hyperbolic orbit then it would move towards the star and then move away from the star without moving back towards the star? While ellipses including circles are the only conic shape that curves back in on itself there are other non conic shapes that curve back in on themselves.

If a circle would be the only conic shape that would be stable as an orbit in dimensions greater than 3d could there still be none conic shapes that would be stable as orbits?
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Re: None conic Orbits

Postby ICN5D » Thu May 08, 2014 8:05 pm

Technically speaking, a hyperbolic orbit is one where a mass is moving at greater than the escape velocity of the central mass. This is only going to give it a gravitational assist, and not get locked into orbit. This is how NASA launches space probes on the cheap, then use planets to boost speed. Other than elliptical, circular or hyperbolic trajectories, there is the possibility of oscillating linear orbits, or toroidal orbits. Earth has a second "moon" in the toroidal case, as we're followed by it around the sun, but not orbited by it. The linear oscillation orbit can only happen with a toroidal planet, where the satellite moves back and forth through the cental hole. All of which is possible in 3D space.
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