Details

We use the equation of the ellipse with the semimajor axis equal to 1 and its eccentricity as the only parameter: .

If is the angle between two tangent lines (the view angle) to the ellipse starting from a point , we have the equation . Converting to polar coordinates and solving for gives us the equations of the isoptics. Because of the square root, there are two solutions and two isoptic curves. One is for viewing angles smaller than , the other for angles > .

Snapshot 1: the orthoptic curve of an ellipse with semimajor axis equal to 1 and eccentricity is a circle with radius

Snapshots 2 and 3: isoptics with acute viewing angles are outside this circle; those with obtuse viewing angles are inside

Snapshot 4: the -isoptic curve of an ellipse is the ellipse itself; the two tangents coincide

References

[1] T. Dana-Picard, N. Zehavi, and G. Mann, "From Conic Intersections to Toric Intersections: The Case of the Isoptic Curves of an Ellipse," The Mathematics Enthusiast, 9(1-2), 2012 pp. 59–76.

[2] B. Odehnal. "Equioptic Curves of Conic Sections." Institute of Discrete Mathematics and Geometry. (Feb 19, 2010) www.geometrie.tuwien.ac.at/odehnal/tr200.pdf.

[3] A. Miernowski and W. Mozgawa, "On Some Geometric Conditions for Convexity of Isoptics", Rendiconti del Seminario Matematico, 55(2), 1997 pp. 93–98.