How do you calculate an orbital vector?

Question

I want to find out the XYZ vector values for a planet in orbit around a star programatically. Assuming the vector of the star is 0,0,0, and i know the distance from the star and the speed of the planet and the mass of the planet. What other factors would i need in order to calculate a realistic path?

Answer 1

Well i know this might sound pretty simple but you left out direction and time...now time is a no brain-er but direction for an orbit is segmented,,,,,in math we call those steps..in an engineering modeling calculator the step value is the increment that the new value is based on ..for example: step by 5  is all the integers from 1 to 100 pretty simple we just count by five there are about 20 steps not real accurate,,,,now step by .005 well you can see there is room for a much more accurate plot...so now with the planer coordinates of x y and z ...calculate in  the locations of different spots versus the ever-changing affected planet you can see that there are a considerable number of calculations that have to be made...Here is an example : planet a moves from  location 1 to 2 and has a uniform gravitational pull of x Weber's from planet B ,C and D all of which are fixed in plane around a central orbit loci (planet A)...now as the planet A gets closer to B it gets father from C and stays the same for D..well i think you might be seeing the problems associated with curve linear vector calcs..in fact the magnitude and vector angle are changed at each step,,.in closing draw the model as simple as possible ,only do a small number of calc and then try to predict the next outcome,add bells and whistles as you go ..pretty soon you'll have an active representation of what you need....From the E....