In astrodynamics, an orbiting body is a body that orbits a primary body .
The orbiting body is properly referred to as the secondary body.
It is less massive than the primary body (i.e. ).
Under standard assumptions in astrodynamics the barycenter of the two bodies is a focus of both orbits.
Pertaining to Astronomy, an Orbiting Body (sometimes seen as OB) is any object smaller than the body it orbits. These may include, but are not limited to, comets, planets, dwarf planets, moons, and asteroids.
Famous quotes containing the words orbiting and/or body:
“Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing—instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“Hereditary property sophisticates the mind, and the unfortunate victims to it ... swathed from their birth, seldom exert the locomotive faculty of body or mind; and, thus viewing every thing through one medium, and that a false one, they are unable to discern in what true merit and happiness consist.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)