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Osculating orbit
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Astronomy/0ArJVM1p">astronomy</a>, and in particular in <a href="/facts/Astrodynamics/oB3tqNG9">astrodynamics</a>, the osculating orbit of an object in space at a given moment in time is the gravitational <a href="/facts/Kepler_orbit/XvdtxmKl">Kepler orbit</a> (i.e. an <a href="/facts/Elliptic_orbit/SfuXuATN">elliptic</a> or other conic one) that it would have around its <a href="/facts/Primary_(astronomy)/PzvXx42a">central body</a> if <a href="/facts/Perturbation_(astronomy)/og5hPpjQ">perturbations</a> were absent. That is, it is the orbit that coincides with the current <a href="/facts/Orbital_state_vectors/9PlwJYYP">orbital state vectors</a> (position and <a href="/facts/Velocity/Q3o1LVDe">velocity</a>). </p>