Proper orbital elements

Okay kiddo, let's imagine that a spaceship is flying around a planet in space. We can use something called "orbital elements" to help us understand exactly how the spaceship is moving.

The first orbital element is called the "semi-major axis." This tells us how big the spaceship's orbit is. It's like a big circle around the planet.

The second orbital element is called the "eccentricity." This tells us how stretched out the spaceship's orbit is. If the orbit is a perfect circle, the eccentricity is zero. But if the orbit is more like an oval, the eccentricity is higher.

The third orbital element is called the "inclination." This tells us how tilted the spaceship's orbit is compared to the planet's equator.

The fourth orbital element is called the "longitude of ascending node." This tells us where the spaceship's orbit intersects with the planet's equator on the way up.

The fifth orbital element is called the "argument of periapsis." This tells us where the spaceship is at its closest point to the planet.

And finally, the sixth orbital element is called the "mean anomaly." This tells us where the spaceship is in its orbit at any given time.

So there you have it - orbital elements are like a special set of instructions for understanding how a spaceship is moving around a planet in space.