Journal

Worth A Thousand Words

30 November 2019

I’ve been cleaning and organizing my digital files recently, and came across some images and figures I’ve created over the years. There’s no reason for them to sit in a folder, so here they are. Feel free to use them.

The following images were created entirely by me. They are presented under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0.

Figure showing the orbits of several planets. The yellow dots represent the location of the Sun. You’ll notice even the orbits of Mercury and Pluto are more circular than we typically imagine. Original Illustrator file here.

Eccentricity of planet orbits. Brian Koberlein
Figure showing the orbits of several planets.

Figure showing these orbits compared to the minor planets Eris and Sedna. They really do have very elliptical orbits. Original Illustrator file here.

Eccentricity of planet orbits. Brian Koberlein
Figure comparing minor planet orbits.

Figure showing the motion of Mars. The left figure shows the motion if we assume a geocentric model. The right image shows the heliocentric orbit. Original Illustrator file here.

The motion of Mars. Brian Koberlein
The orbit of Mars.

Figure showing how a Hohmann orbit works. Such an orbit allows for a regular transfer between Earth and Mars for relatively low energy. Original Illustrator file here.

A Hohmann orbit between Earth and Mars. Brian Koberlein
The orbit of Mars.

Figure showing the orbit of the Moon to scale. Original Illustrator file here.

The orbit of the Moon. Brian Koberlein
The orbit of the Moon.