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Home > Longitude of the ascending node

Longitude of ascending node and other orbital parameters

1 Calculation from state vectors

In astrodynamics for elliptic orbits longitude of the ascending node is the angle between reference direction (e.g. vernal equinox) and the ascending node and can be calculated from orbital state vectors as:

(if then )

where:

• is the x-component of ,
• is cartesian vector pointing towards the ascending node (i.e. the z-component of is zero).

For equatorial orbits (i.e. orbits with orbital inclination equal to zero) is undefined. For computations it is then by convention set to zero i.e. " ascending node" is placed in the reference direction which is equivalent to setting for right-handed system with the x-axis pointing towards the vernal equinox (or other reference direction) and the z-axis pointing upwards.

2 See also

• Vernal equinox
• Ascending node

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