14-billion-years-later: Elliptical Orbits
Just about every popular depiction I’ve ever seen of the solar system has the planets either in a straight line or in circular paths. In fact one humorous (but not satirical) book I own entitled LIFE HOW DID IT GET HERE? By evolution or by creation? goes so far as to compare the orbits of planets to the “orbit” of electrons around around a nucleus (the Bohr model no less) as evidence of God’s existence and apparent intelligence. In truth the planets do not follow these nice circular orbits instead they’re drawn out into ellipses. While on Earth this isn’t noticeable (our orbit only has an eccentricity of about 0.02) with comets and protoplanets such as Pluto this is hugely noticeable.
The idea of an elliptical orbit was first put forward by Johannes Kepler and was a major shock to astronomy at the time as it was believed that circular orbits were “perfect” and infallible. Within the orbit itself the larger of the bodies is situated on one of the ellipse’s foci. The other foci is empty space, but is the center of gravity determined by other objects such as planets or even distant galaxies, in fact by everything in the universe. The elliptical orbit also has the interesting affect of causing the orbiting body to change speed depending on where it is in its orbit. This means that when the planet or comet is closest to the sun (a point known as the perihelion) it is traveling faster than it is at the point farthest away (the aphelion).
14-billion-years-later: Elliptical Orbits
Just about every popular depiction I’ve ever seen of the solar system has the planets either in a straight line or in circular paths. In fact one humorous (but not satirical) book I own entitled LIFE HOW DID IT GET HERE? By evolution or by creation? goes so far as to compare the orbits of planets to the “orbit” of electrons around around a nucleus (the Bohr model no less) as evidence of God’s existence and apparent intelligence. In truth the planets do not follow these nice circular orbits instead they’re drawn out into ellipses. While on Earth this isn’t noticeable (our orbit only has an eccentricity of about 0.02) with comets and protoplanets such as Pluto this is hugely noticeable.
The idea of an elliptical orbit was first put forward by Johannes Kepler and was a major shock to astronomy at the time as it was believed that circular orbits were “perfect” and infallible. Within the orbit itself the larger of the bodies is situated on one of the ellipse’s foci. The other foci is empty space, but is the center of gravity determined by other objects such as planets or even distant galaxies, in fact by everything in the universe. The elliptical orbit also has the interesting affect of causing the orbiting body to change speed depending on where it is in its orbit. This means that when the planet or comet is closest to the sun (a point known as the perihelion) it is traveling faster than it is at the point farthest away (the aphelion).
Posted 4 months ago 131 notes View high resolution
Notes:
-
iturnedintoatree reblogged this from 14-billion-years-later
-
whatshallwedo liked this
-
nightfox420 reblogged this from thesecretofexistence
-
ycnan liked this
-
the-nomad-soul liked this
-
laurenamore liked this
-
elusivemusings reblogged this from thesecretofexistence
-
thesecretofexistence reblogged this from victorioushandofgod
-
acelebritysbodypart liked this
-
victorioushandofgod liked this
-
victorioushandofgod reblogged this from colonel-hans-landa-of-the-ss
-
colonel-hans-landa-of-the-ss reblogged this from 14-billion-years-later
-
yourloveleavesmecold reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
sovietpropaganda liked this
-
emilysetsail reblogged this from yesysabella
-
desiramone liked this
-
rooo liked this
-
persiko liked this
-
thenewenlightenmentage liked this
-
thenewenlightenmentage reblogged this from divineirony
-
fullofgummibears liked this
-
divineirony reblogged this from 14-billion-years-later
-
comealon reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
hpiechow reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
rozao liked this
-
stormysurvival reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
dullscythe liked this
-
rickma liked this
-
sadlovelyheart liked this
-
morito liked this
-
morito reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
shaymaree92 reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
countablyfinite reblogged this from rhamphotheca and added:
This actually bothers me in the Mass Effect universe. All the planets have circular orbits, even the ones that are super...
-
the-third-revelation liked this
-
cdavis1984 reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
yesysabella reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
standinginthesunlight-laughing reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
humanformat liked this
-
morganareads reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
iamdaniellaw liked this
-
iamdaniellaw reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
dtbep liked this
-
pastelmoth liked this
-
theuniversityoftokyo4 liked this
-
theuniversityoftokyo4 reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
arisillusoire reblogged this from rhamphotheca
-
iwanttowatchitfade liked this
-
rhamphotheca reblogged this from 14-billion-years-later
-
rhamphotheca liked this
-
simplesignifier reblogged this from 14-billion-years-later
- Show more notes
