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Least-squares circular orbit fit

What you are seeing: noisy plane-of-sky positions sampled along an eccentric orbit. The least-squares circle fit (cyan) gives the wrong answer when the orbit is eccentric; the residual RMS shows the bias.

Figure 1. Orbit fit; cyan = LS circle, orange = true orbit.
e (orbit)0.56
N samples20
σ noise0.05

WHAT TO TRY

  • Vary each control and watch the rail readouts respond.
  • Compare the diagnostic plot against the live scene.