Quote from frankuitaalst on 07/26/07 at 06:42:15:Any idea whats the meaning of the "curl" in the orbit of Polydeuces ? Seems as it orbits twice another orbit .
That's an artifact of the viewing angle. The view is looking down on the ecliptic plane, but Saturn's moons do not orbit in this plane. Consider the following picture of Pluto and its moons:
Although these moons are in circular orbits, their orbits appear oval because of the viewing angle. Twice per orbit they seemingly have a close encounter with Pluto. When you rotate the frame, this produces some interesting effects. In the Polydeuces image, notice how Dione traces a nice round circle. This means that Dione is in a circular orbit around Saturn. It traces two of these circles for every 1 orbit, but they are on top of each other, so you only see one circle. Objects such as Polydeuces, whose orbits are elliptical, have their virtual close encounters twice per orbit too, but they hapen at different distances from the planet, so they trace a double loop patterns.
Try this yourself:
File > New
Objects > Create Objects, sma=0.1, leave all other values at their defaults
Objects > Create Objects, sma=0.1, ecc=0.1, give it a different color, leave all other values at their defaults
You end up with:
Now rotate the frame with the period of either object:
View > Rotating Frame Adjustment, choose the 2nd or 3rd object in the list, and choose the "Rotating Frame" option. You end up with:
Turn off the rotating frame and use the scroll bar on the right to change the viewing angle:
Turn the rotating frame on again: