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Kepler's equation
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Orbital_mechanics/oB3tqNG9">orbital mechanics</a>, Kepler's equation relates various geometric properties of the orbit of a body subject to a <a href="/facts/Central_force/WT5WWNgq">central force</a>. </p><p>It was derived by <a href="/facts/Johannes_Kepler/wk6GTN3C">Johannes Kepler</a> in 1609 in Chapter 60 of his <i><a href="/facts/Astronomia_nova/5MdQcSD8">Astronomia nova</a></i>, and in book V of his <i><a href="/facts/Epitome_of_Copernican_Astronomy/hYNroSkD">Epitome of Copernican Astronomy</a></i> (1621) Kepler proposed an iterative solution to the equation. This equation and its solution, however, first appeared in a 9th-century work by <a href="/facts/Habash_al-Hasib_al-Marwazi/Hu157YEm">Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi</a>, which dealt with problems of parallax. The equation has played an important role in the history of both physics and mathematics, particularly classical <a href="/facts/Celestial_mechanics/FA3uR78J">celestial mechanics</a>. </p>