GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

GK

SOLAR SYSTEM

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Johannes Kepler hypothesized that the orbit of the planets is ____
A
parabolic
B
circular
C
elliptical
D
spherical
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Kepler’s First Law: each planet’s orbit about the Sun is an ellipse. The Sun’s center is always located at one focus of the orbital ellipse. The Sun is at one focus. The planet follows the ellipse in its orbit, meaning that the planet to Sun distance is constantly changing as the planet goes around its orbit.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the 17th century, Johannes Kepler discovered that the orbits along which the planets travel around the Sun are ellipses with the Sun at one focus, and described this in his first law of planetary motion.

Detailed explanation-3: -Furthermore, the general solution of Kepler’s Third Law is more satisfying to students than asking them to accept that Kepler’s Third Law, derived for a circular orbit, is equally valid for an elliptical orbit when the orbital radius is replaced by the semimajor axis of the ellipse. Reference 1.

Detailed explanation-4: -Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician and astronomer who discovered that the Earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits.

There is 1 question to complete.