ellipse is the shape of the earth's orbit around the sun.
ellipse is the shape of the earth's orbit around the sun.
what is the shape of the earth's orbit around the sun?
ellipse
bullet::::1. the orbit of a planet around the sun is an ellipse, with the sun in one of the focal points of that ellipse. [this focal point is actually the barycenter of the sun-planet system; for simplicity this explanation assumes the sun's mass is infinitely larger than that planet's.] the planet's orbit lies in a plane, called the orbital plane. the point on the orbit closest to the attracting body is the periapsis. the point farthest from the attracting body is called the apoapsis. there are also specific terms for orbits about particular bodies; things orbiting the sun have a perihelion and aphelion, things orbiting the earth have a perigee and apogee, and things orbiting the moon have a perilune and apolune (or periselene and aposelene respectively). an orbit around any star, not just the sun, has a periastron and an apastron.
orbit
bullet::::- geocentric orbit: an orbit around the planet earth, such as that of the moon or of artificial satellites.









































bullet::::- lunar orbit (also selenocentric orbit): an orbit around earth's moon.









































bullet::::- areocentric orbit: an orbit around the planet mars, such as that of its moons or artificial satellites.









































for orbits centered about planets other than earth and mars, the orbit names incorporating greek terminology is less commonly used









































bullet::::- mercury orbit (hermocentric or hermiocentric): an orbit around the planet mercury.









































bullet::::- venus orbit (aphrodiocentric or cytheriocentric): an orbit around the planet venus.
list of orbits