How can I understand?

 

"Speed increment at infinity"

 

"Infinity" seems to be a speed measurement point, - by space probe trajectories, - but where is "infinity"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly

Edited August 10, 201312 yr by Bjarne

Infinitesimal increment.

Infinitesimal increment.

What do you mean ?

What do you mean ?

Infinitesimal means infinitely small a value that approaches 0.

Since it's paired with speed at perigee, I would think it either means the speed increment far away from the earth, where the earth's influence can be ignored, or the asymptotic speed when it's far enough away that the sun can be ignored.

Infinitesimal means infinitely small a value that approaches 0.

But what have this with the question to do

 

Repeat...

 

How can I understand "Speed increment at infinity"

 

"Infinity" seems to be a speed measurement point, - by space probe trajectories, - but where is "infinity"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly

But what have this with the question to do

 

Repeat...

 

How can I understand "Speed increment at infinity"

 

"Infinity" seems to be a speed measurement point, - by space probe trajectories, - but where is "infinity"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly

I think Swansont's answer is the best one for that.

Swansont's answer is exactly what I would imagine the term to mean. But as the response to it shows, this is not clarifying the confusion about it. So let me try to explain:

The process in question is the gravitational interaction of two bodies deflecting each others' path (with the effect on earth probably being ignored for being tiny). Of interest are the values before and after the process, i.e. the total effect. The semantic problem one encounters is that strictly speaking gravity has an infinite range, so the deflection process never starts nor ends. So for pedants (like the average Wikipedia author ) the value of interest is the value's limit as the process approaches an infinite distance between the two bodies. Or in short-hand: The value at infinity (although a proper pedant like me would cry foul over phrasing it like this ). In practice, it is the value at a point where the process can be considered as having finished. Or to put it into Swansont's words: A point "where the earth's influence can be ignored".

Edited August 11, 201312 yr by timo

http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/66986/finite-velocity-at-infinite-distance

I think it is a little like a camera focusing on "infinity". It is just far enough away.