This is the actual or true anomaly.
The anomaly AFQ of Q at any moment is called the mean anomaly, and the angle QFP by which the true anomaly exceeds it at that moment is the equation of the centre.
The solution may be worked out directly or through the determination of the equation of the centre which, being added to the mean anomaly, gives the true anomaly.
The angle from the pericentre to the actual radius vector, and the length of the latter being found, the angular distance of the planet from the node in the plane of the orbit is found by adding to the true anomaly the distance from the node to the pericentre.
Its amount is the correction which must be applied positively or negatively to the mean anomaly in order to obtain the true anomaly.
