Orbital Period Calculator
Kepler's Third Law
Calculate orbital period and velocity for satellites and celestial bodies using Kepler's Third Law.
Orbital Parameters
km
Distance from center of central body to orbit
Kepler's Third Law
T = 2Οβ(aΒ³/GM)
where: T = period, a = semi-major axis, G = gravitational constant, M = central body mass
Note
This calculator assumes circular orbits. For elliptical orbits, the semi-major axis is the average of the closest and farthest distances.
Example Orbits
ISS (Earth)
~6,800 km β 92 min
Geostationary (Earth)
42,164 km β 24 hours
Moon (Earth)
384,400 km β 27.3 days
Earth (Sun)
149,600,000 km β 365 days
About Orbital Mechanics
Kepler's Third Law states that the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis.
- Period depends on distance and central mass
- Closer orbits have shorter periods
- Independent of satellite mass
Applications
- Satellite orbit design
- Space mission planning
- GPS satellite positioning
- Planetary motion prediction
- Exoplanet discovery
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