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As the title states, are questions that ask for help with calculations, or help with the results of the said calculations, on-topic? or are they off-topic, and would have a better home on a site like Physics.SE, or Mathematics.SE, or elsewhere?

Some Specific Context:

I'm working on a little side-project relating to orbits and orbital positions of objects in our solar system. I am relatively new to the mathematics behind orbital mechanics, and my understanding goes as far as what I have read online (and a few hundred hours of Kerbal Space Program...).

I have managed to adapt what I have learnt into some code to calculate cartesian and spherical coordinates. However, when I have fact-checked the output against records on JPL's HORIZONS System some of the results are not what I am expecting to see.

So I would like to ask about my understanding and implementation of the calculations, and whether I am interpreting my results correctly.

Checking in the Help Center, I would say that this question probably falls under Planetary Science and Celestial mechanics, but there does not seem to be any pointer as to whether help with calculations is something that is accepted on this site.

I also had a quick search for Maths and Calculations here on Meta, and the only two questions that seem relevant (this one, and this one) do not answer the question.

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  • $\begingroup$ I just ran across this question and I'm surprised to see that it's been viewed 62 times and has received 3 up votes but nobody has posted any kind of response to it. My feeling is that Python's EAFP (1, 2, but not in Java) applies in this case. The site is pretty friendly and so a reasonable question is not likely to quickly collect down votes, and instead if there are issues they'd be brought up in helpful comments. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Mar 5, 2021 at 5:24
  • $\begingroup$ This question could likely have also been asked in Space Exploration SE as well. I know it's been almost two years now, I hope you were able to resolve your issues independently. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Mar 5, 2021 at 5:26

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