According to Newtonian gravity theory
v(r)=√GMr
If the orbit is circular, the speed is simply proportional to
1/√r. For general cases, however, after some derivation, the average speed,
ˉv=12π∫2π0dθv(θ)=√GMa2E(2ϵ1+ϵ)π√1−ϵ,
where
E(z)=∫π20(1−zsin2θ)1/2dθ is the elliptic function. Note that
E(0)=π2, restoring the circular motion result. So, the average speed is proportional to
1√a where
a is the semi-major axis.
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Fig. 1: the semi-major axis vs. average orbital speed for solar system planets in linear coordinates |
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Fig. 2: the semi-major axis vs. average orbital speed for solar system planets in logarithmic coordinates |
The best fit of the slope gives 29.779763 km/s/AU, which is about the earth average orbital speed. Using the data of solar mass and gravitational constant, the average eccentricity is about 0.0195386. This is the absolute value.
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