GK
SOLAR SYSTEM
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Because of both gravity and centripetal force, planets move in a particular manner around the sun. Which term describes the shape of the orbit of a planet?
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circle
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ellipse
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perihelion
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sphere
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Explanation:
Detailed explanation-1: -It’s an ellipse, or a circle that has been “flattened.” One ellipse’s foci are the sun (or the planet’s centre).
Detailed explanation-2: -Acceleration in Orbit To move in a curved path, a planet must have an acceleration toward the center of the circle. This is called centripetal acceleration and is supplied by the mutual gravitational attraction between the sun and the planet.
Detailed explanation-3: -All orbits are elliptical, which means they are an ellipse, similar to an oval. For the planets, the orbits are almost circular. The orbits of comets have a different shape. They are highly eccentric or “squashed.” They look more like thin ellipses than circles.
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