SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Pluto’s orbit became eccentric and inclined because of gravitational interaction with migrating giant planets soon after their formation. It’s actually typical for Kuiper belt objects to have high inclination.

Detailed explanation-2: -Mercury, with an eccentricity of 0.2056, is the planet with the most elliptical orbit. Use the electric orrery to view orbits of the planets in our Solar System.

Detailed explanation-3: -Pluto’s orbital oddity Pluto is an oddball in terms of its highly eccentric (e=0.25) and inclined (17 degrees to the ecliptic-the plane of the orbit of most of the planets in the solar system) orbit around Sun.

Detailed explanation-4: -And Pluto? Well, to call Pluto eccentric would be an understatement. With an eccentricity of 0.25 (in other words, ¼ of the way to complete removal from the system), the stretchiness of its orbit is so exaggerated that it spends 20 of its 248-year orbit within the orbit of Neptune.