Data Provider Groups | Data Provider Elements

Ecliptic Crossings

Times corresponding to the crossing of a vehicle's position through the ecliptic plane (nominally, the plane containing Earth and Sun).

Available for these objects: Satellite

Type: Interval data given specified evaluation intervals and step sizes. Intended to be used only with elements from this same data provider.

Availability: Reports

Data Provider Groups

Name	Description
J2000 Ecliptic	Crossings through the ecliptic plane as defined at the J2000 epoch (the ecliptic pole is the mean rotational axis of the Earth at the J2000 Epoch).
Mean Ecliptic of Date	Crossings through the ecliptic plane as defined by the mean ecliptic plane of date (the ecliptic pole is the mean rotational axis of the Earth at the given time). Mean of date accounts for precession but not nutation.
True Ecliptic of Date	Crossings through the ecliptic plane as defined by the true ecliptic plane of date (the ecliptic pole is the true rotational axis of the Earth at the given time).
Ecliptic of J2000 ICRF	Crossings through the ecliptic plane defined as the XY-plane of the EclipticJ2000ICRF axes.

Data Provider Elements

Name	Dimension	Type	Description
Time	Date	Real Number or Text	Time.
Crossing Type	Unitless	Text	The direction of the crossing: Ascending indicates a crossing of the XY plane toward +Z; Descending indicates a crossing of the XY plane towards -Z.
Pass Number	Unitless	Integer	Satellite pass number at the stated time.
Path Number	Unitless	Integer	Satellite path number at the stated time.